


Love, Betrayal, and a Severe Lack Of Intelligence

by Cheeky_The_Monkey



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Awkward Romance, Basically Paul's the Avatar but has no idea, Drama, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-01-24 13:05:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 35
Words: 38,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18572083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheeky_The_Monkey/pseuds/Cheeky_The_Monkey
Summary: 30 YEARS AND STILL NO AVATARWhen oblivious 30 year-old non-bender(?) Paul is thrown headfirst into a dangerous position, he and his friends are forced to try and figure out exactly what are the blue creatures that are taking control of people and how do they stop them from destroying everything that is dear to them.TGWDLM Avatar AU





	1. A Pretty Normal Morning

**Author's Note:**

> Just quickly going to mention that there won't be any Avatar characters in this, except maybe the odd mention of previous Avatars. It's set after Korra. Most of the TGWDLM characters can bend an element.

Paul Matthews was having a pretty normal morning. He got up as usual, fed the animals and continued to paint the fence an olive green colour. He loved his simple lifestyle even though he wasn't a bender. To be honest, he had never really wanted to be one. When he was small, being a bender was "cool" and everyone expected him to be jealous. He really wasn't. It would just be another responsibility to keep track of, and he had too many of those already.

"Morning, Paul!" a familiar voice called from behind him.

Paul turned his head to see Bill walking up the dusty path, closely followed by a young woman that Paul hadn't seen for a while.

"Oh, you brought Alice today?" Asked Paul, allowing a small smile to slip onto his face.

Bill nodded happily. "She wanted to practise, so I thought I might as well let her come to work with me." His smile faded for a moment, and he leaned closer to Paul and whispered: "Mr Davidson won't mind, will he?" 

Paul thought for a moment. "Nah, he gets an extra worker for a day without having to pay them. He won't mind."

Bill's smile returned, somehow even broader than before. "That's great!" Bill turned to face his daughter. "Ready to start?"

Alice nodded shyly.

"Then let's get started!" He began to walk towards the fields. Alice gave Paul an awkward wave, before following.

"I'll come and watch you guys in a bit!" Paul called after them. As much as he wanted to see the father and daughter work together, he wanted to finish painting the fence first. Even if he gets the smallest job, he wants to do it properly.

Non-benders were just as capable as benders.

Spurring himself on, he resumed the painting with a newfound motivation. But it wasn't long before he heard footsteps rushing down the path. He checked behind him, to see another familiar face.

"P-Paul," she said, slightly out of breath, "Has Bill arrived yet?"

"Umm yeah, sorry Char. He's already gone up there with Alice." He gestured towards the fields with his free hand.

Charlotte's face deflated. "Oh no... I hoped I wouldn't be too late but Sam wanted me to make him breakfast and you know I can never resist Sam and-"

"You're not late!" Paul interrupted. "They only just went up. Actually, if you're going, I'll come with you. I promised that I'd watch today."

Charlotte breathed heavily for a few moments, before letting out a deep sigh. "That's a relief. Thank you, Paul."

Paul smiled. "No problem! It's been ages since I've watched you guys at work."

Together, the pair trekked up the yellow hill. For Charlotte, it was a route she took on a daily basis. For Paul, it was a luxury. He never worked in the fields, so he never got to see the old farmhouses, riddled with history, appearing so small that they may be mistaken as child's toys, or the view of the city, so close yet so far, where the tall buildings stood rebelliously against the horizon.

He also never got to experience the pain in his legs from climbing that high, but it was worth it in the end. Or at least, that's what he told himself.

Once they reached the fields, Bill came bouncing over to greet them. "Paul! You came!"

Paul smiled a little awkwardly in return. "Yup! Just like I said..."

Charlotte stepped in front of him and took Bill's hand. "Bill, I am so so sorry that I'm late, but Sam was-"

"That's okay!" Said Bill cheerfully.

"Me and Alice were waiting for you anyway, so now we can get started." He motioned over to the side. "Paul, you might wanna keep your distance. We've got three people today," he smiled at the prospect, "so it's gonna be extra powerful."

Paul blinked a few times. "Uh, okay." He walked over to the area that Bill had been pointing at.

There was a distinct line where the green grass became a sickly, dried yellow. He sat down on the dry parts, and made himself comfortable.

It was going to be one hell of a performance.

The others had already made their way to the stream. "Ready?" called Bill. Charlotte nodded. Alice nodded too, albeit very nervously.

And so it began.

With slow movements of their hands, together they began to raise the water from the riverbed, before gracefully manoeuvring it in patches to hover over the lines of thirsty crops and then lowering it in sync and massaging it into the many sets of roots. They then repeated the process of lifting the glimmering drops and watering the plants.

Paul watched in awe. Sure, he didn't want to be a bender, but that doesn't mean that he didn't appreciate the beauty of what they could do.

"Oi! Paul!"

Paul turned to see his angry colleague trudging up the hill. Oh dear. "What is it Ted?"

"Are you gonna leave that fence half-painted or what?!"

Paul sighed. He didn't... _dislike Ted_. He just got on his nerves. A lot.

"Look, Alice came in with Bill today and I said-"

"No!" Yelled Ted. "I don't care who said what, and who did or didn't come in today! All I care about is you doing your part of the job, which you obviously can't do! So even if Alice-"

Upon hearing her name, Alice turned her gaze over to Ted. The water immediately followed, hovering over Ted's head for a brief moment before escaping from Alice's hold and dropping all over the non-bender, completely soaking him.

Ted stood still, shaking slightly, with wide eyes.

"I...ah...I..." he mumbled.

Bill stopped working to see what was going on. He immediately covered his mouth.

Alice ran over to her father in horror. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean-"

"PFFFT HAHAHAHA-" Bill let the laughter explode out of him. He laughed so hard that he gripped onto Alice's shoulder for support.

Seeing the usually reserved Bill guffaw so much prompted Paul to laugh too. Even Alice let out an uncertain chuckle. Charlotte didn't laugh, but the corner of her mouth did rise slightly. She rushed to where Ted was still shaking. "Ted! Ted, are you alright?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" Was the only reply she got out of him.

It just so happened that that was when their boss, John Davidson, happened to walk up the hill.

"What's going on?" He asked sternly.

Ted said nothing (his mouth was still hanging open with shock) but he pointed at Paul.

Mr Davidson sighed. "Paul. The farmhouse. Now."


	2. He Did It

Paul shuffled awkwardly in his seat. Ted blamed him for something he didn't do. It was to be expected though, as it was a very Ted thing to do.

"Paul, I know that you're not a waterbender, but there's no need to express your burning jealousy by drowning Ted."

Mr Davidson had been lecturing for a while. Paul usually enjoyed his speeches when there were worker meetings as he found them genuinely interesting. This time, however, he just wanted it to be over with.

"I'm sorry, Sir. It won't happen again." Paul said once his boss had finished speaking. He didn't bother standing up for himself. Ted was Mr Davidson's younger cousin after all, therefore anything Paul said would be disregarded in favour of "family ties".

Mr Davidson sighed. "You know what I think would be good for you, Paul?"

"What?" replied Paul hesitantly.

"You need to go to the city. Open your eyes to other walks of life, and get over your deep desires of waterbending."

”Oh, Sir, that's really not-"

"Great!" Mr Davidson exclaimed. "While you're there, buy some more oats. We've almost run out because of your... _generous_ feeding technique."

Paul shook his head. "No, I really don't think-"

"With your own money son, to make up for any illness that poor Ted catches."

Paul began to mentally count out how much money he had in his pockets, and prayed that it was enough to but the oat supply. He was barely getting by as it was.

Mr Davidson banged his fist on the table. "Out! Now! If you leave now you can be back by lunch. It'll do you some good to get some refreshing city air in your lungs."

Without so much as a goodbye, Paul left the farmhouse and began to trudge back through the farm.

"Hey, Paul!"

A slightly-less-wet Ted came jogging up behind him. "He's sending you off to the city, then? It's a long walk."

Paul rolled his eyes. "Yes," he answered, "how did you know?"

A mischievous grin spread on Ted's face.

He then replied "Oh, y'know, I was pitching in with some punishment ideas the other day. I recommended the city walk just for you."

A sickly sweet smile spread onto his face.

“Thanks Ted, I really appreciate that.” Paul groaned sarcastically.

Paul felt a slight headache coming on, so he thought it best to continue his walk to the city, but Ted stopped him again.

"Paul!" Ted called from behind him. "Get me some dried tea leaves! To compensate for the injury!"

Paul gritted his teeth, and kept on walking East. He had a long journey to make, and he was soon well on his way to the opportunistic city of Hatchetfield.


	3. The Adventures Of Oatman

Paul smiled awkwardly at the people who gave him strange looks as he walked through the busy streets of Hatchetfield. It probably had something to do with the two huge bags of oats that he was dragging behind him. He supposed that was a little weird.

He decided to stop and rest for a few moments. His cheeks were red and his breathing was heavy, so he needed to conserve his energy for the long walk back to the farm.

"Hey, are you okay?"

A young woman had walked up to him, and she seemed genuinely concerned. Judging by her green robes, she was training at the Earth Bending Academy.

"Uh, yeah, I'm good thanks." Paul replied bluntly.

The woman didn't seem convinced. "Are you sure, Sir? You don't look so good." She pressed. "Those bags seem heavy, maybe I could help? I have a permit to bend in the streets so I can roll it along if you'd like?"

Paul shook his head. "No way."

The woman seemed offended. “Is there something wrong with my help?”

“No, I just don’t want it.”

The woman's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "Well fine, if that's how you want it to be. I gave you a choice, and you said no. Just remember that."

She stormed off, leaving Paul leaning against the wall with nothing except his clothes and two ridiculously big bags of oats. He reached into his pockets. He only had a few coins left, and there was no chance that he was going to buy Ted his tea leaves.

_Tea._

That was exactly what he needed.

Leaving the oats unsupervised for a few moments, he decided to explore the market street that he was on. There were rows of small shops and stalls selling unnecessary goods. If he ever needed a cup extension, he knew where to go.

There was one shop in particular that caught his eye. Named "The Grind" it appeared to be a popular tea shop. As he was too tired and too stressed to do anything else, Paul decided to use his last few coins to buy a cup of tea. That would save him from thinking up an excuse for not buying Ted's tea leaves. He had his suspicions about what that man _actually_ did with those.

Walking back to where he had placed the oats (and sighing at the very sight of the damned things) he gripped the sacks tightly, and started to drag them along the street.

Once up close, he could properly appreciate the beauty of the little shop. The exterior was extravagantly decorated with ribbons of multiple colours and plants that Paul had never seen before. There were a few small tables outside the shop, but all were filled by little families chatting happily to each other.

Letting a smile of relief slip onto his face, he entered the shop.

"Hey, you! What are you doing?"

The inside of the shop was teeming with people. Paul could hardly see the counter, and he was having trouble identifying the owner of the angry voice.

"You can't come in here with those bags! Out! Out, now!"

Paul was too shocked to do anything.

"Wh-"  
 _"OUT!"_

Terrified that the voice would kill him, Paul retreated. With his oats.

He dragged them around the corner of the shop, which was only inhabited by piles of rubbish collected from the shops, and slunk down onto the sacks. He lay there for a while, thinking about whether he was the first person to have this experience. He then suddenly jumped up, and pointed his finger sternly at the oats.

"Do you know what I went through today?" He asked them. "Torture. I went through absolute torture. I was humiliated, insulted and kicked out of the nicest place ever! All because of you!"

"Sorry, man."

Paul looked up in surprise. It had never struck him that oats could talk. His jaw dropped. He heard some rustling behind him. Turning around, he saw one of the rubbish piles shake slightly, with some of the higher items falling to the ground. He took a step back.

Without warning, a head popped out. A head belonging to an old man with long, grey hair and a disturbingly long moustache.

The man's mouth opened to speak, and Paul caught a whiff of... something.

"It sounds like you had a rough day."

It then occurred to Paul that his mouth was still hanging open. He shut it a little too quickly.

"Yeah, me too." The man answered himself, with some of his white moustache getting caught in the few wonky, yellow teeth he had left.

Paul pinched himself subtly. The head was still there. Doing what he thought was the best thing to do in that situation, Paul slowly backed away to the main street, dragging his oats with him.

"It was nice talking to you!" The man's oddly casual voice called after him. He didn't reply.

Still bewildered by what just happened, Paul carried on walking as if in a trance. He walked past The Grind and soon ended up at the very end of the market street. 

He was brought back to reality when he was almost run over by a cart.

"Hey, careful!" He cried to the driver that was already too far away for his voice to be heard.

With a sigh, he looked around yet again. Just across the street, another tea shop caught his eye. It was slightly run-down, but it wasn't the exterior made him cross the road in order to reach it. It was what was happening inside. Even from outside, Paul saw the flashes of light and the gusts of air that caused the curtains to sway. He squinted his eyes to read the fading sign.

_Beanie's_

His curiosity taking over him, he stepped into the shop.

Paul entered the tea shop with caution. As he stepped through the door and heard a small chime ring, he held his breath and prayed that the oats wouldn't be his downfall yet again.

Luckily for him, they weren't.

He placed the sacks comfortable against one of the walls, and joined a queue to be served.

While waiting, he realised just how different this shop was compared to the other one. It was just as busy, yet had half as many people in it.

What made it busy was what was happening at the small table that was being used as a counter.

Three women sat at the table, which held two large pots of steaming tea. The first, an earthbender, was creating fresh cups out of a large supply of clay at the back of the room. The second, a firebender, heated the pots on the table, occasionally shooting a large flame into the ceiling when the room became cold. The third, a waterbender, majestically lifted the beverage out of the pots and into the cups, ready to be served to the next customer.

They ran like clockwork, repeating the cycle endlessly with trained perfection.

Paul watched them in awe, and secretly wished that he and Ted could work as well as they could as a team.

Then he realised what he was thinking, and completely obliterated the thought.

Due to the women's expertise, Paul didn't have to wait long to be served. He smiled nervously at the women, not knowing exactly what to do. For some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off the second woman. While the others were obviously putting a lot of effort into their tasks, she seemed to be putting in none at all, even though she had arguably the most difficult task keeping the drink at the right temperature. Paul wondered how powerful she must be to do that.

He must have stared a bit too long, because she impatiently asked "Green or ginger?"

"Oh, uh... green please."

And just like that, the trio prepared his drink which they placed upon the table, where Paul had already placed all of his remaining coins.

The firebender looked at him, unimpressed. "This isn't enough." She said bluntly.

Paul's face fell. He had been so certain that he had enough coins left over. He'd never admit it, but he honestly felt like crying. Or destroying the world's oat supply. One of the two. Maybe even both.

He must have looked genuinely desperate, as the firebender's hard stare morphed into one of sympathy. "I don't think you've come here before, so I guess it's okay."

"Here," she said, picking up a single gold coin and handing it back to him, "your change."

Paul let out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.

"Thank you so much" he said.

The firebender shrugged, but kept the small smile on her face. The smile spread onto Paul, as he grinned as he found a stool to sit at and sip his tea.

As he drank, he looked around. The interior was nowhere near as fancy as the other shop's, but it felt more homely. For starters, there were burning torches on the walls, making the already bright room even brighter. On each little table, there was a vase containing a single flower. The flower varied on each table. Paul's happened to be a tulip.

Many scrolls were hung up on the wall, too. With nothing better to do, Paul decided to read the two closest to him.

The first was a poster that Paul had seen plastered all over the city.

__

30 years and still no Avatar!  
Are they gone? Have they abandoned us?  
If you see anyone with even the slightest hint of bending multiple elements, report it immediately to the Kilrao Guard for a huge reward

_  
_

Paul sighed. He didn't understand why people cared so much about the Avatar. They were just an ordinary person, after all. The only reason that the Avatar was idolised was because so far they were all good people. What if this time, the Avatar was a bad person? What would happen then?

Trying not to dwell on the thought for too long, he read the next scroll. A legend.

On the scroll, there was a painted image of a mountain, completely surrounded by thick forest, with only the peak bare. There was a hut at the very top. Intrigued, he read the faded script.

__

The Legend Of Ayorka:  
Hundreds of years ago, when the tribes and peoples were at war, there was a young man that fled  
He believed in peace and harmony  
He forged a mountain out of his own good will, and began to create a better world  
Many years later, a traveller came across the mountain, which was marked on no map  
She found the man, still as young as the morn, feeding the animals  
She spoke to him, but he gave no reply. He had forgotten how to speak  
She discovered that he was sick with immortality  
With love and care, she nursed him back to health, and together they healed any traveller that came across the mountain of Ayorka

_  
_

"That's not true, you know."

A startled Paul turned his head to see the firebender standing next to his stool, gazing at the scroll.

"Well, most of it is, but not all of it. My father went looking for Ayorka. He never came home. So I did my research, and it turns out that none of the travellers came home. Some healers they were."

"Really?"

The firebender nodded, thrilled to see that someone showed genuine interest. "You should come here more often, oat man." She said.

Paul cringed. "My legacy has spread then?"

The firebender laughed. "I overhead a lot of people talking about you. They thought you were crazy, but it turns out you're alright. What's your name?"

"Paul."

She smiled. "Hey, Paul. I'm Emma."


	4. Hint: They're Not Melons

Paul's fellow workers had all noticed his goofy grin when he finally arrived back to the farm (with both bags of oats, miraculously).

Ted had been very suspicious as to why Paul had taken so long and had returned so happily, so he requested that Paul should be sent out to the city again the next day.

Paul was happy with that.

He hadn't told anyone about his strange experiences in Hatchetfield. Would anyone even believe that he saw a talking pile of rubbish? So when the cockerel called the following morning, Paul got dressed straight away in order to get to the tea shop as early as possible.

To his surprise, most of the workers were already at the farm, and they were all gathered in a circle looking down at something. Paul pushed his way through the crowd to see what it was. His eyes widened in surprise and confusion.

Three round, blue objects the size of pumpkins with splashes of white.

"Do you think we could sell them?"  
"Nah, who would want something like this?"  
"They look like giant eggs or something"  
"Can we eat them?"

The workers all speculated on what the mysterious items could be. Paul was curious too, but he had better places to be. More specifically, the city of Hatchetfield.

After collecting some money (he had convinced Mr Davidson to use the farm's funds this time) he set off on his journey to the city.

The journey felt half as long as it usually did.

When he finally arrived at Beanie's, he felt his entire body relax. Even if Emma wasn't there that day, at least he'd get a decent cup of tea.

"Paul?" He heard a familiar voice say.

He looked to his left to see none other than Emma cleaning some tables nearby.

"Emma! Hi!" He said, a little too excitedly.

"What are you doing here so early?"

To be fair to her, he was very early. So early in fact, that there were very few people in the shop. Paul wondered if that meant he was a stalker. He hoped not.

"I... uh... really needed a good cup of green tea" He replied. That was what he told himself, anyway. He wasn't really sure why he felt so attracted to the odd little tea shop.

Emma didn't look convinced.

She sighed. "We're having some trouble setting stuff up this morning. Somebody thought it would be funny to put these blue melon things into our water supply, so it's taking Nora a while to purify it again."

_Blue melons?_

"I saw something weird this morning too at the farm I work at, but they didn't look like melons. More like..."

Paul thought for a moment for a good comparison to the objects, then he remembered what one of his co-workers had said.

"Eggs."

Emma gritted her teeth. "Might not be the same, then. But if they are, that might be a huge problem. We'd have to close down until we can get a refreshed water supply."

Paul felt something nagging at the back of his mind. He tried to dismiss it, but there was something that made him feel uneasy.

"Can I see?"

"Uh, yeah, sure" answered Emma, motioning towards a small door at the back of the shop.

Paul walked to the door, and sagged a little when he realised that Emma wasn't following him. He opened it, and walked inside a little room which was almost completely filled with a glass water tank.

Just as Emma had said, there were blue items at the bottom of the tank. But they didn't look the same as the ones on the farm. There were four that looked almost like eyeballs: a jelly-like substance with something obscured in the middle.

Except one didn't have anything in the middle at all.

Paul's uneasiness increased as he stepped back into the main seating area.

"Nope, not the same" he announced to Emma.

"Huh, that's weird." Emma didn't seem to be as worried as Paul. She acted as if it was a normal occurrence, which soothed Paul a little bit. Not much, though.

Emma shrugged. "I'm just gonna go check again. Feel free to sit down, but I doubt we'll be serving anything for a while."

"Thanks, I think I'll do just that." Paul replied. He sat down in the same spot as yesterday, and re-read some of the scrolls. He wondered if Emma's story about Ayorka was true.

Despite everything, he felt relaxed.

Then Emma screamed.

Paul jumped off his stool and raced into the back room, violently pushing the door open. "Emma?!" he cried, looking around.

Then he saw her.

She was in the water tank, pounding at the glass with every bit of energy she had.

Paul didn't know what to do. The top of the tank was far too high for him to jump or climb (how did she even get in there?!) and she was quickly running out of air. He looked around, trying to find something to smash the glass with. There was nothing. He began to hyperventilate.

Emma was dying. The sweet woman he had met only yesterday was drowning right in front of him, and he was powerless to stop it.

His breathing only sped up. Soon it felt like he was the one running out of air, not her.

_in-out-in-out-in-out-in-out_

Almost in unison to his breaths, the water in the tank began to swirl around. As he breathed in, it seemed to be pulled further towards him and as he breathed out it was pushed further away.

But Paul didn't notice. Paul was too scared to notice.

The more he hyperventilated, the more water was moved around, carrying Emma's now unconscious body with it.

With a desperate need for oxygen, Paul forced himself to breathe in slowly, closing his eyes as he did so.

He didn't see the water rise significantly higher in the tank.  
He didn't see Emma's body rise with it.  
He didn't see the water overflow from the tank and fall to the ground.  
He didn't see Emma's body fall with it.  
He _did_ feel the cold water around his feet, and he opened his teary eyes in shock.

There, lying in a puddle of water right in front of him, was Emma.

For a brief moment Paul felt relieved, before he noticed a very important detail. Emma wasn't breathing.

This time it was Paul's turn to scream. Emma had fought her way out of the tank, and now relied on him to save her, but he was clueless. What was he going to do?

Out of nowhere, a memory rushed back to him. One of the first times Alice had come to the farm when she was small, she had fallen into the river. Once they'd got her out, Bill had pinched her nose and breathed into her mouth, as well as pumping her chest aggressively. To Paul's bewilderment Alice had survived.

What if he could replicate that?

He sat next to Emma, and began to push his hands over her chest hard. He didn't know what he was doing, but he was too scared to do anything else.

Paul started to hyperventilate again.

He then remembered how Bill had breathed into Alice's mouth whilst pinching her nose. Still terrified, he leaned in...

_in-out-in-out-in-out-in-out-in-out-in-OUT_

Before his lips could meet Emma’s, water spurted out of them, soaking his face.

Paul blinked, dumbfounded. Emma coughed violently, doing her best to remove every single drop of the dangerous liquid out of her weakened lungs. Paul blinked again.

“P-Paul…” said Emma, once she had stopped coughing. “You saved me?”

She sounded very uncertain. Honestly, Paul felt the same way,

"Uh... no... I think you climbed out." He replied, still not able to comprehend what just happened. Was the whole breathing thing unnecessary then? Did you only have to push their chest? He made a mental note to tell Bill sometime.

Without warning, Emma stumbled into his arms, in a cross between a hug and a collapse. A hullapse, if you will. Paul accepted the hullapse, patting her back, which only prompted Emma to cough even more. 

Having Emma hullapse into his arms suddenly brought Paul back to reality. "Emma! What happened?" he asked, very late.

"I... I don't know." Emma replied hesitantly. "I think something grabbed m- _the melons!"_

Emma turned her head suddenly, and Paul followed her gaze. The blue, jelly-like melons were still in the tank, but with one major difference. They didn't look like eyeballs anymore. The "pupil" of each of the eyeballs had disappeared, leaving only a translucent sphere.

As they stared, the water in the tank began to move on its own accord. Swirling around so that even the "melons" moved with them. Soon the melons exploded due to the water pressure, and the shards of jelly moved with the water. Paul and Emma watched in fear as the water began to rise again.

Suddenly, they heard a strange gurgling sound that seemed to pass through them. They turned around in unison, to see a familiar figure standing in the doorway, with something scarily blue wrapped around their throat.

_“Emma…”_


	5. Some Co-Workers You Were

Emma’s jaw dropped open and she moved out of Paul’s arms. “Nora..?”

Paul quickly stood up behind Emma. The figure in front of them was no other than the waterbender that Paul had seen yesterday.

She had something wrapped around her neck. Upon closer inspection, it looked almost like a snake or eel of some sort, with one major difference. It had sharp spines that had wedged themselves into Nora's throat.

Paul realised something was wrong. Emma didn't.

"Nora, are you okay? What is that thing?!"

Paul put his hand protectively in front of Emma, and quietly said "I don't think that's Nora..."

Emma pushed Paul's arm away from her and turned to face him. "What do you mean? Of course it's Nora! Nora, can you get that thing off?"

Nora opened her mouth as if to respond, but water gushed out of it instead of words.

Emma gasped.

Paul grabbed Emma's arm and began to slowly drag her backwards. "Emma, we've gotta get out of here."

Once again, Emma moved out of Paul's grip. "No, she's my friend. We have to help her!"

As if on cue, Nora stepped towards them (her mouth still releasing an impossible amount of a blue-tinted liquid) and let out a gargled shriek that echoed throughout the little room.

This time, Paul wouldn't take "no" for an answer. He took hold of Emma's hand and pulled her with him as he ran around the diseased woman and back into the main seating area of the shop, slamming the door shut as he went.

Emma leaned against one of the walls, and slunk down, letting out another wet cough as she did so.

"Are you okay?" asked Paul, sitting down next to her.

"Yeah... I just-"

Emma was interrupted by the front door of the shop opening suddenly.

"Emma!" the person cried, rushing to their side. Paul recognised them as Emma's earthbending co-worker.

"Zoey!" Emma replied, forcing herself back to her feet and hugging the other woman tightly.

Paul wasn't jealous. Not one bit.

"Something's wrong with Nora." Emma informed her.

Zoey nodded. "I know, I saw her a few minutes ago. She's not the only one, everyone's acting weird. I sent all the customers out but they- who's this?"

Zoey had only just noticed Paul's presence. Paul opened his mouth to answer but Emma interrupted him.

"This is Paul, he's a friend."

Zoey looked at Paul suspiciously, but didn't say anything else about it. Instead, she motioned towards the door she had just entered from. "Come on, we need to get out of the city. Those... _things_ are everywhere."

Emma and Zoey began to make their way to the door. Paul stood up and jogged to catch up with them. "If you need somewhere to go, you can always come back to the farm. I work there and it's a good distance from the city."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Emma agreed.

Zoey suddenly leaned in towards Emma to whisper something that Paul couldn't hear.

Emma shook her head in response, and stated "No, we can trust him. He helped me."

Zoey shrugged. "If you say so."

Together, the trio exited the coffee shop, only to find the streets completely filled with people.

Very still people.

"Uhhh, are you guys seeing this too?" Asked Emma, looking around nervously.

Without warning, all of the people turned towards them. Zoey screamed. Paul clutched Emma's arm.

There was something very, _very_ wrong.

Like Nora, many of them had some slimy blue creature wrapped around their necks, their spines cutting into their skin, and water pouring out out of their mouths and onto the street.

Others had a navy snake-like creature squeezing their waists, their bodies collecting dust from the ground which resulted in their skin turning a brownish-grey colour.

And some... some people's hair was on fire, with what looked like a gigantic beetle attached to their chest.

Without saying another word, Paul ran as fast as he could away from the people. Emma followed. Paul led them to an alleyway that he had seen the previous day.

Out of sight from everyone else, Emma decided that it was safe to say something. "Oh my God!" She screamed.

Paul felt like doing the same thing, but forced himself not to. He had no idea what was going on, but his instincts were telling him to get back to the farm as quickly as he could. "Emma, calm down. We need to get to the farm."

But Emma wasn't listening. She ran a hand through her hair, and suddenly her body jerked towards Paul.

"Where's Zoey?" she asked with a sudden desperation.

Paul gulped.

A dry voice hissed behind them. "Zoey..."

Both Paul and Emma turned to find the owner of the voice, but there was nothing there except piles of rubbish-

_Oh._

Just like yesterday, the pieces of trash began to shake and fall to the ground, revealing a familiar head.

Except it looked very different.

For one thing, the man's skin was entirely grey, with cracks spreading all over his face, a faint blue light being emitted from them. His abnormally long moustache was still there, though.

Emma screamed. This time, Paul did too.

They both sprinted out of the alley and back into the streets where Zoey stood, petrified.

Emma grabbed onto her arm. "Zoey, we need to go now-"

Zoey turned around, and they noticed the snake that was slithering up her leg and coiling itself around her waste. They noticed her mouth hanging open, filling with dust. They noticed the grey tint to her darkening skin.

There was nothing else to be said. They stepped away from Zoey (if she still was Zoey) before they both broke out into a run.

Paul led the way, and the pair dodged and manoeuvred their way through the crowds of the diseased people.

They only stopped running once they were a reasonable distance from the city, before they speechlessly embraced each other for comfort, neither wanting to talk about what happened.

All they had to do next was get to the farm. They would be safe there.

...Wouldn't they?


	6. Poor Paul

The pair dragged themselves through the desert route to Goralgon Farm.

Paul would often glance down at Emma, who seemed very distant. He thought it would be wise not to comment.

They had walked for a good 30 minutes in silence before Emma spoke up: "Are you okay?"

No. Paul was not okay. He was boiling hot, he was scared, and he was angry. He was not okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Emma didn't believe him. "Are you sure? You kinda look a tomato right now."

It was true, Paul's face was very red. It would be impossible to pinpoint a cause for it. But if he had to choose, it was probably the scorching heat.

"I'm a little hot" he answered.

Emma smiled sympathetically. "I feel you. Lucky for me one of the perks of being a firebender is that I don't feel it as much."

A realisation hit Paul.

"Hey, you're a firebender, why didn't you attack the things back there?"

Emma shrugged and replied "I've worked with them for a few years. Sure, we don't always get along, but I wouldn't wanna hurt them." She stopped walking. "Why didn't you attack them?"

Paul stopped too, and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I, uh, can't bend."

"Really?" Emma sounded genuinely surprised.

"It's just that we hardly ever get non-benders at the shop, seeing as it revolves around bending and all. Most people just go to The Grind"

Paul shrugged, not wanting to admit that he had been kicked out of the more popular tea shop.

Emma didn't drop the subject. "Come to think of it, how did you get me out of that tank earlier if you can't bend?"

"I told you, I didn't do it. You climbed out."

Emma let out a dry laugh. "Paul, as a firebender I am legally required to not be able to swim to save my life. That applies here. There's no way I could have done that."

Paul wracked his brains, trying to think of another explanation. If neither him or Emma saved her, who or what did?

"Then I'm not sure what did but it wasn't me." Paul reinforced.

Emma punched his arm gently. Whether it was because she was joking or just because she didn't have enough energy was unclear. "Alright, you can carry on being modest."

They began to walk in silence again, but this time they felt more comfortable with each other. Not that Paul was comfortable at all. He felt like he was a walking sauna.

Emma seemed to notice his discomfort, as she suggested "Have you got anything that you can take off?"

Paul shook his head. "I've only got my shirt on."

"Fair enough." Emma sighed.

Emma used the moment to consider her own clothes. Her white Beanie's robes had dried by then, but they still felt heavy. She decided to pull it up a little, and tie it around her waist, revealing a band of slightly tanned skin around her stomach.

Paul did his best not to stare. 

Failing miserably, he decided to bring up the subject that they had expertly avoided until now. "Do you have any idea what those things were back there?"

"No idea."

"Do you think..." Paul began. "Do you think that the worm things are what pulled you into the tank?"

Emma visibly shuddered at the thought. "Oh God... Oh my God it must have been. Ew!"

Paul had a horrible thought. "Are you sure you're... okay?"

Emma seemed to understand. "Do you mean..?"

"Yeah."

Emma ran in front of Paul and faced him suddenly to ask: "Can you check?"

He nodded, and began to examine Emma's neck. To his relief, there was no sign of anything blue around it.

"No, you're good-"

He caught sight of something which shimmered on her skin. Using his fingers he carefully tried to touch it, and gasped when he recognised it.

"What? What is it?" Asked Emma, desperately.

"It's... it's like a spine or something." Paul answered.

Emma's eyes went huge. "Well can you get it out?!"

Paul tried to pull the little silver spine out, but it had lodged itself far into Emma's flesh. "No... how do you feel?"

Emma breathed in and out for a moment. "Normal. My chest hurts a bit but I blame you for that."

"Hopefully it's nothing then."

He tried to continue to walk but Emma didn't move out of his way.

"Do you think it's something to do with those melons?" She asked suddenly.

"What?"

"The melons... what if those things came from them?"

Paul considered the theory. If the creatures had come from the melons, then that would mean they were...

_Eggs._

The word flashed into his mind, prompting him to remember the farm workers having the exact same theory earlier that day.

The farm. There were similar objects on the farm.

"Oh God... oh no... oh God..."

"Paul? What's the matter?" Emma asked, concerned.

"The- there were things that looked a bit like the melons on the farm."

Emma held her breath.

"We need to get there as soon as we can-" Paul began to run- "my friends are there!"

Emma followed his lead, and soon the two were sprinting through the desert towards the danger that awaited them at the farm.


	7. Beware The Broom

Paul let himself relax when he finally reached the familiar greenness of the farm.

Emma looked around nervously. "Is this it, then?"

Paul nodded, trying to get his breath back. Then they noticed that yet again, something was wrong. Unlike the city, there was not a single soul in sight. Usually there would many workers completing various tasks in different areas whilst someone (normally Ted) would shout at them. But there was no-one; not even on the fields where most of Paul's friends worked.

Paul tensed up again.

“So uh are we safe here?" Emma asked, breaking the eerie silence that spread throughout the farm.

Paul didn't answer. Instead, he looked over to where the farmhouses were. The lights were on in his house. He pointed towards it. "I think we'd better go in there."

"Okay" Emma agreed, and the two crossed the deserted land to reach the small house.

On the way, they passed many of the pumpkin/football-like things that Paul had noticed earlier. Too determined to reach the house, they didn't comment on them.

Once in front of the house, Paul cautiously pushed the door open, making it let out a loud creaking sound. He did not remember leaving the door unlocked.

Subconsciously, he held one hand behind his back. Emma took it.

They silently moved through the hall. Every step they took echoed off the stone walls around them.

Step. Step. Step. Creak. Step. Step. Step. Step.

_Thud._

Instinctively, the pair looked up. Something had created the sound above their heads.

Paul put a finger over his lips. Emma got the message, and soon the two began to make their way up the stairs.

Step.  
Step.  
Step.  
 _"HYAAAAAAAAAAAA-"_

Ted suddenly burst out of one of the rooms and stood at the top of the stairway, brandishing a broom.

"Ted!" Paul yelled, running up the remaining stairs to greet his annoying housemate "What are you doing?!"

"Paul?" Recognising the other man, Ted stood up straight and put down his... weapon.

Paul could hardly believe that he was happy to see Ted. "Ted, where is everyone? What's going on?"

Ted shrugged. "Everyone's gone mad. These pests have come out of nowhere and are eating people alive."

He then noticed Emma coming up behind Paul. "Who's that?" he asked.

Paul gestured towards her. "Oh, this is Emma. Emma, Ted. Ted, Emma."

Emma looked at Ted suspiciously. Ted just smirked back.

Paul didn't notice the clash, and carried on talking. "We just came from the city, and the same thing was happening there. Where's Bill?"

Ted's smile faded. "He's in the river with Charlotte and the kid."

" _What?!_ What do you mean, _in the river?"_ Demanded Paul.

Ted shrugged. "I don't know! I saw them all jump in and as far as I know they haven't come out again."

Paul started to make his way back down the stairs. "We have to go look for them."

Emma nodded and moved to follow Paul. Ted didn't move a muscle.

"Paul, face it, they're dead. I hate it too but they've drowned in that damn river, okay?"

Paul squeezed Emma's hand comfortingly when she shuddered at the thought of drowning. The memory was still replaying in her mind. He then looked back at his housemate angrily. He would talk to Ted later, but first of all he had to find his friends. Love before hate.

Rushing out of the door, he ran back to the fields from earlier that morning, climbing up with Emma not far behind him. Once they reached the fields, he walked over to the river.

"Bill! Bill, are you there?! Charlotte? Alice?"

There was no response. Paul wasn't going to give up so soon.

"Charlotte! Bill! Alice!"

He frantically zoomed around, yelling the names as loud as he could.

Emma approached him slowly, and he was startled when she placed a soothing hand on his back. "Paul... I think that guy might be right."

Paul shook his head like a small child denying something naughty. "No, they're here. They're clever, they must be hiding. Bill!"

Emma watched as a determined Paul continued to shout until his voice went hoarse. She didn't say anything. After just losing her co-workers, she knew it was better to stay silent at a moment like this. He would realise eventually.

And realise he did.

Without warning, Paul fell to his knees and began to sob uncontrollably. Emma took his arm and directed his to the riverbank, and sat him down so he could let it out. She rubbed his back while he cried into his hands. He mourned his best friends. His comrades.

He was too busy crying to notice the water in the river begin to bubble.

He was too busy sobbing to his heart's content to notice the water level decrease rapidly.

Emma did notice.

"Uh, Paul?" She said, shaking him gently.

Paul looked up to see the river half full, and three heads poking out of it, surrounded by a large bubble.

"Oh my God!" Cried Paul, jumping to his feet. As he did so, the water level rose again.

"Emma, they're in there! They're alive! Of course they are, they're waterbenders!" Laughed Paul with relief.

Emma grinned. She was glad that she didn't have to watch Paul mourn too.

Paul ran a hand through his (now messy) hair and laughed hysterically. “I told you they’re clever!”

“Uhh do they know it’s safe to come out now?” Asked Emma. Paul’s face fell suddenly.

“No… I know!” Suddenly, Paul leapt into the river.

Emma watched in horror when he didn’t resurface immediately.

But Paul was fine. He was ecstatic. His friends were alive, and even through the water he could see the three familiar figures sitting in a bubble on the riverbed. He waved to them.

A very surprised Bill waved back.

Paul made a gesture as if to say “come here!” before swimming back to the surface, beaming.

"Paul!" Called Emma, outstretching a hand which Paul took gladly as his adrenaline wore off. "Are you crazy?!"

Paul laughed. "I don't think so."

Once he was back on the bank, it didn't take long for three more people to swim to the land. Together they pulled them up onto the bank too. In turn, Paul squeezed them. "Oh guys, I'm so glad you're safe" he said.

Bill sighed with relief. "I'm glad to see all the crazy workers are gone."

Charlotte nodded in agreement. "Yeah, wh-what was all that?"

"We're not sure..." said Emma.

"Oh yeah! Guys, this is Emma. Emma, this is my friends Charlotte and Bill, and his daughter Alice."

Emma waved to them awkwardly.

“By the way,” continued Paul, “who’s idea was it to hide in the river? That was smart!”

Alice raised her hand nervously. “That was me…”

Bill wrapped his arm around Alice's shoulder proudly. "That's right! Alice had the idea, and she was the one who kept the bubble going. She's more powerful than me and Charlotte put together!"

Alice blushed.

Charlotte spoke up. "What happened with the river just now? Half of it disappeared for a moment."

No-one knew the answer. Emma looked at Paul sceptically.

"You know what?" Said Bill. "I think this calls for a group hug. Even you, Emma."

"(It is Emma, right?)"

"(Yeah.)"

Bill outstretched his arms, and soon everyone hugged each other gladly. And together, for the first time that day, they felt at peace. Together, they could take on the world. They would get out of the situation, fix things and get to safety.

They would be happy.

A loud voice rang throughout the farm.   
_"Charlotte..."_


	8. Sam

The group tensed. Charlotte began to shake. Cautiously, they separated and looked around them, trying to find a body to match the voice to.

Alice spoke up quietly. "What was that?"

"I think..." Charlotte answered. "I think that was Sam."

Both Paul and Ted frowned at the name.

"We need to hide." Said Emma, unaware of the tension caused by the name.

Bill nodded. "Yeah, we do. But I'm not going in the water again."

"Where even is he?" Asked Ted, squinting his eyes to get a better look at the farm below them.

"Somewhere in megaphone range. Come on, we'll be safer back at the house." Paul began to creep back down the hill. He was immediately followed by Emma, Bill and Alice, with Charlotte and Ted lagging behind a little.

As they were walking down the hill, Emma caught up with Paul. "Who's Sam?" She whispered.

Paul frowned even more. "Charlotte's... husband. He's in charge of the city police."

"Then shouldn't we be happy? He might not have one of those things on him- he could just be looking for his wife!" Emma continued.

Paul stopped walking entirely in order to turn and face Emma seriously. "Emma, trust me. Sam would never come looking for Charlotte."

She didn't need him to elaborate. She understood exactly what the implications of that were simply by the tone of Paul's voice. She looked back at Charlotte sympathetically.

Once the group made it to the bottom of the hill, Ted pointed to the farm entrance, where a run-down automobile was parked.

"See that?" He whispered to no-one in particular. "That's him."

He and Paul scowled in unison. The one thing that they could agree on was their strong feelings towards Sam.

"Ted, does he look alright?" Asked Charlotte, genuinely worried about her husband.

Ted squinted his eyes so much that he looked like he'd sucked on a lemon.

"He's facing away but I can't see any snakey worm things."

Charlotte smiled. "Then maybe we should go talk to hi-"

"NO!" Cried Ted and Paul, once again in sync. They might have shouted a little too loud, as Sam turned to face them.

"Uh oh" muttered Ted as the large man began to walk towards them.

"Charlotte!"  
His voice was now clearly audible, even without his trusted megaphone.  
"Char- _LOTTE"_

Suddenly, Sam jerked his hands towards the ground, prompting a circle of jutted rocks to rise up, surrounding them.

"Uh, Charlotte?" Asked Paul. "Is this normal?" But Charlotte had begun to cry and was unable to answer.

It didn't take long for Sam to appear in front of them, only visible through the gaps between the spikes of stone.

"Charlotte." He said sternly.  
"Charlotte."  
"Charlotte!"

Bill looked at the others nervously. They were trapped.

"What are we going to do?" He asked, clutching onto Alice for dear life.

"I'll tell you what." Said Emma. She took a few steps back, before running forwards and thrusting her arms in front of her, causing a huge burst of fire to attack the rock.

It did nothing apart from leaving a charred mark on two of the spikes.

Emma sighed in defeat. She knew that fire had little effect on earth, but she was the most useful of the benders in that moment. She cursed under her breath. "The one time that I need Zoey..." she muttered.

Paul picked up on her words. Zoey had been Emma's earthbending friend. All they really needed was an earthbender to get out of their cage.

Sam continued to chant Charlotte’s name.

“Can he say anything else?!” Yelled Ted after a good few minutes had passed.

No-one thought to comfort the weeping Charlotte. Paul decided to change that. “Charlotte, hey, you okay?” He asked, pulling her in for a hug.

Charlotte held her hands over her ears. "Make it stop!" She cried.

Paul grew angry. If that idiot Sam was going to kill them, he may as well do it quickly without having to make poor Charlotte suffer. 

"Sam!" He shouted. "Shut up!"

Sam didn’t listen. It was worth a try.

This only made Paul angrier. "Sam, I don't care if your soul has been devoured by some dark spirit, your wife is crying!"

Bill pulled Alice closer to him after Paul’s outburst.

“CHARLOTTE! CHARLOTTE! CHAR-”  
 _“SAM!”_

Paul fell to the ground, his voice box completely obliterated by the anger he felt towards Charlotte's husband. Even if it was all a dream, the first thing he was going to do when he woke up was murder him.

He was surprised to see everyone else on the ground too.

They all lay there in shocked silence for a few moments. Even Sam kept quiet.

Ted was the first to speak up. "What-"

"Charlotte?"  
"Charlotte."  
"Charlotte!"

Paul gritted his teeth. At least that had worked for a few moments.

Alice was the first to stand up, and she spun on her heel. "Um, look at this."

The other members of the group slowly stood up and joined her, each of their expressions quickly turning into one of disbelief. The rocks that had been the bars of their cage had all been forced back into the ground; they were now half the size that they originally were and could easily be climbed over.

“I knew he would change his mind!” Charlotte cried, rubbing her teary eyes. “Sam!”

“Charlotte?” This time, Sam sounded genuine.

Charlotte began to scramble over the rocks, not taking her eyes off her husband. "Sam!"

"Not this time!" Paul began to climb too, but Ted beat him to it. He leapt over one of the smaller rocks, and ran up to Sam before giving him a forceful punch in his grey face.

"Go on! Say her name, I dare you!"

"Char-"

Sam was interrupted by another punch in his face. Paul and Emma hurried to Ted's side.

Paul taunted the man. "Sam! Sam! Sam! Shut up Sam! Treat your wife better Sam! Go die Sam!"

On cue, Emma rushed forwards, blasting flames at the man. Sam staggered backwards, clutching one side of his face. He didn't seem to be affected for long though, as he soon took up a stance and began to create a motion with his hands.

"Oh no you don't!" Shouted Emma, shooting another blast of fire at him. Sam fell to the ground, his head completely scorched. From under his belt, a blue snake-like creature began to slither away.

They had won for now, but the battle wasn’t over yet.

Ted ran over to the snake, and squashed it with his foot, consequently getting his shoe covered in a thick, gloopy blue substance.

Charlotte rushed to Sam's side. What was left of Sam, anyway. The skin on his face had almost completely burnt off and the skin that remained was a dusty grey colour.

"Sam... I'm so sorry Sam... I didn't mean to, I p-promise..." She muttered, kneeling next to her husband's corpse.

"Charlotte, get away from him." Instructed Paul. "He's one of them and he doesn't deserve your apology."

Charlotte sniffled but did as she was told.

"So, now what?" Asked Emma, looking at the farm around her.

"We can't stay here." Paul stated. "It won't be long before others arrive."

Bill nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. But where else are we gonna go?"

"Well, uh-" Emma gestured towards Sam's police automobile- "we've got one of these now, so..."

"But where would we go with that?" Bill asked again. "Paul, you said the city's infected, right?"

"Yeah."

"So what do we do?"

Emma subconsciously scratched her neck, and her fingers grazed over the sharp spine from earlier. She had forgotten about it- only now did it make her itchy. She refused to make a big deal of it though. Instead, she shoved her hands into the pocket in her robe, and felt something rustle. She pulled it out.

"I think we should-"

“Hey, Paul?" She said, interrupting him.

"Yeah?"

"Remember that story about the guy and the mountain and the whole traveller thing?"

Paul nodded suspiciously. "Yes... Ayorka, right? That's just a legend."

Emma unrolled the scroll that she had shoved in her pocket. "Here, I was gonna show you earlier." She pointed to the drawing. "See these trees? Don't they look like the ones in Halka forest?"

Paul's eyes widened.

"And like I said, my father went missing after he looked for Ayorka, so there must be some truth to it. So maybe-"

"Maybe if we go to Halka forest, we can find it! Emma, you're a genius!"

Ted raised his hand. "I hate to end this flirtatious behaviour but what the hell are you guys on about?"

Paul gestured to Emma's scroll. "That mountain may be our only hope."

Ted shook his head. "No, no, no. Paul, that's a legend. I am not risking my life for a legend."

Bill came up to stand next to Paul with Alice following. "Then what do you think we should do, Ted?"

Ted sighed. "Alright, fine. But if anything all I'm gonna do is prove this legend isn't real, okay?"

Paul raised his voice. "So it's decided. We're gonna go to Halka forest, look for Ayorka, and try and find out what on earth is going on."

"Hear hear" called Bill, with Charlotte nodding behind him.

"There's just one problem." Said Emma. "Ayorka's not on any maps, and Halka's a big forest."

Paul adopted a look of determination. "Then we'd better start looking."

Together, the six of them set off. Three waterbenders, two non-benders and a firebender. Whatever would come their way when they searched for safety on this mountain, they were prepared for it.


	9. So Brains Exist

The group had decided to go to Halka Forest. After quickly retrieving some provisions from the farm, it hadn't taken them long to set off on their long journey to the north east.

Unfortunately, they hadn't quite prepared for how much walking was going to be involved.

They walked non-stop for the remainder of the day, and managed to get out of the desert. As they trudged through the endless fields, it began to get dark.

They argued about whether to camp for the night. In the end, they decided to sleep and continue at dawn.

It had taken a lot of team effort to build a few small shacks seeing as none of them could earth or airbend. But eventually, using rocks, logs and leaves, they had three little huts built, big enough for two people.

Once everything was built, they all gathered around a small fire (courtesy of Emma) and discussed the day.

"Does anyone have any family they need to find?" Paul asked as they all tucked into some roasted vegetables that they had brought from the farm. The question was mainly directed at Bill and Emma.

Bill shook his head and swallowed his mouthful. "No, Barbara is all the way in Clivesdale, and that's on the other side of Halka. If we don't find Ayorka, then that's where I want to go."

Alice shuffled awkwardly, as if she disagreed. She didn't mention it though.

"Fair enough." Paul turned to Emma directly. "What about you?"

Emma let out an empty chuckle. "My mother died a few years ago, my sister was killed and my father went missing trying to find a way to revive her, so I'm good."

The group stayed silent, letting the heavy statement sink in.

After a little while, Charlotte's weak voice spoke up: "What if that wasn't the real Sam? And he's still out there? All scared a-and looking for me..."

Ted mumbled something inaudible. Paul simply stated "No."

Once again, silence.

"So," Began Emma, trying to break the ice, "what do we know about those things?"

"They're all grey." Answered Bill.

"No, not all of them." Paul disagreed. "We saw some with water coming out of their mouths."

"And some with their heads on fire." Included Emma.

A look of confusion was painted on Bill's face. "But all the ones on the farm were just turning grey, like Sam was!"

"But Father, weren't they all earthbenders?" Asked Alice.

"Yes, but- _Oh"_

"That makes sense," said Emma, "Nora and Zoey had different things happen to them."

"Yeah but what about the snakes?" Ted asked suddenly. Nobody answered.

"They're not all snakes." Corrected Emma. "Some of them were like eels and some-" she shivered suddenly- "were like beetles."

Paul sent a questioning look in Emma's direction, but Emma didn't see it.

With the serious topics over with and the sky an inky black, they let the day's occurrences get to them. Some of them cried, some of them prayed, some of them shrugged the day off their shoulders. All they needed was a good night's rest.

"So who's gonna keep first watch?"  
 _"What-"_  
"Thanks for volunteering, Ted."  
"Just for the record, I hate you."


	10. A Few Years Ago...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashback.

_After walking for days through the endless forest, the sight of the mountain lifted an enormous weight off his frail heart. With no time to waste, he began the climb. Due to his excitement it didn't take too long._

_Just like on the scroll, there was a small house at the peak. He knocked on the door, praying that it wasn't abandoned. To his relief, he heard a slight shuffling from inside._

_And then silence._

_"Hello?" He called, knocking again. "Please, if you are there Merciful One, I heard of your beautiful abilities. My daughter... she was taken from me too soon. Please have pity and help me."_

_There was no response._

_He decided to continue. "I grew up with the Legend Of Ayorka. You are a legend, were you aware of that? Well, now you are. I'm sorry if this is an inconvenience, but I have searched for weeks while my daughter waits for me. If you are going to deny me, please at least allow me to meet you. Let my efforts be even slightly rewarded."_

_The silence seemed to poison him, and he felt hot tears brewing in his eyes. He had lost. More importantly, he had lost his daughter for good. Now, with the refusal of the great healers of Ayorka, he felt the true grief that he had put aside. And so there, standing alone on that damned mountain, he mourned._

_Until he was suddenly swept off his feet._

_He crashed to the ground, his back painfully hitting the sharp stones which made the mountain's skeleton. He let out a cry of shock and agony._

_He opened his eyes, only to find that his vision was clouded. But through the mist, he could vaguely make out a face with bright, wide eyes peering down curiously at him. Was it human? He couldn't tell. It cocked its head oddly, before grabbing hold of his leg._

_It began to drag him across the grassy mountain and into the hut. He screamed. He screamed at it to let him go. He begged it to have mercy. He called out for the healers to come to his aid. But they never came._

_He continued to be dragged along, until suddenly he heard his captor walking down stone steps._

_He closed his eyes in fear as he was pulled along with it._

_And he never opened them again._


	11. It Could Be "Us"

It had taken them a few days to reach Halka Forest, but when they had it had given the group a refreshed sense of hope. Luckily they hadn't encountered anyone on their travels, so everyone had made it in good health thus far.

They'd all become more comfortable with each other. Emma tended to stay closer to Paul, and the two of them led the way. Alice happened to be the best at map-reading, so she and Bill stayed quite close to the front too. Charlotte and Ted however, drifted to the back of the group and liked to keep their distance from the rest. Paul could only wonder what they were discussing.

As their first day walking in the forest came to a close, the group once again set up a small camp. While everyone was separated, Emma walked up to where Paul was gathering wood.

"Hey." She said.

Paul smiled back, slightly confused. "Hi."

Nothing more was said as they continued to collect wood. Until eventually, Emma asked "Do you know anything about healing?"

A frown spread onto Paul's face. "No, but I think Bill knows a bit. Why do you ask? Are you okay?"

Emma scratched her neck to try and satisfy a growing itch. "No, no. No reason, I was just curious."

Paul looked at her for a moment in suspicion, but he let it slide. "Well, if you do need anything then I hope we find Ayorka soon."

Emma chuckled, but somehow there was no humour to it.

They all missed home, and they all just wanted to go back and pretend it all never happened. But they were too far now.

"Hey, Paul?" Emma asked suddenly.  
"Yeah?"  
"Are you sure you can't bend?"

Paul furrowed his brows. "Yes, why?"

"Could your parents bend?" Emma pressed, desperate for her theory to be proved. Paul had to be the one who saved her, there was no other way.

Paul stopped working entirely, and dropped the wood he had gathered. "No, Emma, my parents couldn't bend. I come from a family of non-benders." He stepped closer to her. "Wait, why are you so bothered? Does this change _us?"_

Now it was Emma's turn to be confused. "...Us?"

Paul's eyes went wide as he realised his mistake. "No, I meant uh, n-no I can't bend. And by us I meant if... if you... still wanted to be my..." He winced internally."...friend."

Emma laughed genuinely this time. "It doesn't change anything, Paul. We can still be friends. I'm just in a very curious mood today."

"Ah." Nailed it.

A slightly deflated Paul picked up the wood that he'd dropped and began to make his way back to the camp. All he wanted to do was hide his reddening face.

Emma watched him go, her smile only growing. Paul was a mystery to her. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that he couldn't bend. How else did he save her from drowning? There had been nobody else there and his clothes weren't very wet.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a stinging sensation in her neck.

She lifted her hand up and rubbed the sore spot, only for her hands to rub over a smooth, sharp object. She sighed, letting herself sink down to the ground. Paul had been her only hope, and she didn't want to have to show the spine to the others. She had cleverly arranged her hair in such a way that it hid it, but she didn't know how long she could hide the skin so red that it would rival Paul's, or the veins that had enlarged and now emitted a dull blue glow. She breathed heavily for a few moment, letting the pain decrease a little, before standing up and going to give her contribution to the fire.

The sooner they found Ayorka the better. It was her only hope now.


	12. No, Not That Kind Of Beatle

They had spent two uneventful days in the forest so far. The only interesting thing that had happened was a discovery of a very strange looking toad that Charlotte was convinced was a new species. But apart from that, nothing.

That is, until Ted called out suddenly from the back of the group. "Hey guys! Come get a look at this!"

The group all rushed to his position, and a feeling of nausea began to brew in their stomachs at the familiar sight. Under a small overhang of rock were a selection of blue objects. Some were round and smooth, others were corrugated and were patchy.

"Oh no..." Paul muttered under his breath.

Bill pointed to the patchy ones. "There, those are the ones that were back on the farm." Everyone already knew this, but hearing it said out loud sent a shiver up Paul's spine.

"Does this mean that those things are here too?" Asked an anxious Charlotte. "They are eggs, aren't they?"

Paul let out a shaky breath. "Yeah, but-"

"Those... those aren't the ones back in the water tank. They aren't the melons." Said Emma suddenly, gesturing towards the smoother, navy eggs.

Paul shivered but quickly composed himself again.

"If you've not seen them before," said Ted, "then what are they?"

"Um, everyone?" Called Alice. Everyone turned to face her. "Should we be worried about _those?"_

Paul looked to where Alice was pointing, and saw nothing. He then squinted his eyes, and he could not unsee what was in front of him.

Almost invisible to the naked eye were what appeared to be three large bubbles with a slight blue tint. Upon closer inspection the outline of some sort of creature could be seen held within them.

"Paul?" Emma said, her gaze not leaving the bubble-like things, "I think we should go."

Paul slowly turned his head away in order to face her. "Uh... yeah good idea."

They began to continue their journey, when all of a sudden Charlotte screamed.

"What is it?! What's wrong?!" Shouted Ted, running over to Charlotte's side immediately.

Charlotte just pointed down. 

A huge navy beetle, about the size of Charlotte's own face, was scuttling towards the rest of the group. It sped towards them, seeming to only be interested in reaching Emma.

"Emma, look out!" Yelled Paul, running over to try and intercept the beetle, but its pincers were spread wide open.

Emma screamed as it drew even closer to her.

"Take... THIS!" Paul cried as he jumped onto the beetle. Unluckily for him, it was only paralysed for a few moments.

So Paul stomped on it again.  
And again.  
And again.  
Until eventually, it stopped moving entirely.

"Guys, run!" Paul instructed as he led the group as they fled from the area.

They were gone before they got to see the beetle get back up and scuttle back to the little overhang to wake up its siblings. They were not going to miss the opportunity of such a feast.


	13. We're Off To Chase The Monkeys, The Wonderful Monkeys Of Oz

The group were all sick of the forest now. It had been just over a week since they'd entered it, and it felt like they had been searching for an eternity. Even though Halka was renowned for being a huge forest, Paul began to wonder how big it would have to be to hide an entire mountain.

There was also Ted's argument that Ayorka didn't even exist. He hoped that it wasn't the case, not only for their safety but because he'd have to admit that Ted was right.

Ew.

To his horror, after yet another week had slipped by them, the trees started to become more dispersed. The further they walked, the less trees surrounded them, until eventually there were no trees at all.

Looking at the grassy plains in front of them, Emma visibly deflated. Her knees gave way and she crumpled onto the ground. "This can't be it." She stated firmly. "We must have passed it."

"Emma honey," Charlotte said, placing a comforting hand onto Emma's shoulder, "We've been looking for weeks. It's just a legend."

Emma put her own hand over Charlotte's. Over the weeks the team had spent together, they had all become more comfortable with each other. Even Charlotte had come out of her shell.

"Uh," began Paul, looking around himself, desperate to find some evidence that Ayorka was real for Emma's sake, "I think... we need to start thinking about a Plan B."

"Plan B?" Repeated Ted. "Plan B? Face it Paul, there was never gonna be a Plan B. You took the word of a chick you met in a tea shop, and you took us all walking through this damn forest for weeks?! All for a stupid mountain that isn't even real?!"

Paul hung his head, deep down knowing everything that Ted said was true. Taking a deep breath, he looked up to lock eyes with Ted. "No, Te-"

_"Look out!"_

Everyone turned to look at Alice, who was pointing up at the sky with a look of terror written on her face.

There, flying towards them from quite a distance, was a swarm of some sort of winged creatures. But every second they sped closer, they increased in size. Still at a distance, they looked bigger than any flying bird that even Charlotte had ever seen before.

"Get to the trees, quick!" Cried Paul, as the group scrambled to take cover in the forest.

But the creatures had already gained on them.

As the trees were spread so far apart, they followed them into the edge of the forest. So they had to keep on running.

Paul looked behind him and caught a glimpse of the creatures that were in pursuit of them.

They appeared to be small mammals with the figure of a small monkey. From their ginger, furry backs sprouted a pair of blue wings that closely resembled those of a dragon. On top of that, they had large fangs that were bared as they dodged the trees that were the obstacles in their way. However as they retreated deeper into the forest, one by one the monkeys bumped painfully into a tree and gave up their chase. Soon, they were down to only one left. It went after Bill.

Alice had the smart idea of climbing on of the denser trees.

"Father, up here!" She called, outstretching her hand for Bill to take. Bill took it gladly...

...but the creature had caught up with him. It dug its claws into his back, and tried to pull him away.

"Alice!" Bill shouted, gripping onto Alice's hand as hard as he could.

But the creature was stronger.

It pulled Bill away, causing Alice to fall from her perch on the tree and onto the ground.

"FATHER!" Alice tried to run after the creature, but it had already flown above the canopy and was out of sight. 

"Father..."

Paul rushed to Alice's side. The girl was aggressively clutching her own robes, desperately trying to hold back tears. She was failing, and they were streaming down her face. He bent down and wrapped his arms around her. "Alice, everything's gonna be fine, alright? We'll get him back."

He then quickly stood back up again. "Emma! Charlotte! Get over here!" He shouted. He wasn't very good at comforting people, and he knew the others would be better. Everyone except Ted, of course.

With adrenaline still pumping through his veins, he did the first thing he could think of. He climbed the nearest tree. Because he was certain that it would be very difficult for the creature to carry Bill into the air, and would therefore slow it down. Once his head poked above the canopy, he looked around.

Just as he had hoped, he saw the creature flapping its wings rapidly, hardly staying the air, carrying a struggling Bill.

"Bill!" He cried, but his voice wouldn't carry that far.

"Paul! Is he there?" He heard Emma shout beneath him.

"Yeah, can you throw me up a stone or something?"

He ducked his head back under the canopy in order to catch the sharp stone that Emma threw up to him. It almost took his head off, but he managed to catch it with only a small injury to his hands.

He looked up to search for Bill again. They were even further away now. He climbed a bit higher in order for his entire upper half was above the canopy. He drew his arm back and cursed under his breath. He was never any good at throwing things. He inhaled loudly, before lobbing the stone towards the beast in the hope that it would release Bill.

He let out a shout of relief as the stone pierced the back of the creature.

But his happiness was short lived. The creature's grip on Bill only tightened. Only now, from its back emerged a thick, blue, fluorescent liquid that ran down its back and dripped onto the ground below.

Paul scrambled back down from the tree, and pointed in the direction where fresh drops of blood were appearing on the forest floor.

"Follow that goo!"


	14. The Mountain

The team (minus Bill) were all very focused on their task as they diligently followed the trail of blue blood.

Alice lead the search, making sure to always be the first to reach the drops as they fell from above. Once, it even landed on her and Emma had insisted that she wash it off immediately. She didn't want Alice to be affected in any way by it.

They followed for the remainder of the day, but when the night began to creep up on them they were faced with a problem. How were they going to be able to see the goo.

"I could always make a torch?" Emma suggested when it was almost pitch black. Usually by this time they would all be in asleep in their camps.

Paul immediately shot down the idea. "No, that's not a good idea in a forest."

But for once, Ted seemed to agree with Emma. "What else are we gonna do?" He said. "If we set up camp, we'll lose Bill. If we carry on in the dark, we'll lose Bill. Put some faith into the lady, Paul!"

Paul winced, as he realised that it sounded like he didn't trust Emma. He did. He somehow trusted her more than anyone else currently in the group, even though he'd known her for not that long.

Emma looked Paul in the eye. "I promise I'll only make it small, just enough for us to see where to go."

But Paul was still firm on his thoughts. "No, we don't want to cause a forest fire. Think of how much damage that would be! And it only takes a small spark to start."

"Yeah, what Paul said." Charlotte agreed.

"I think," Emma began, "we should ask Alice. It his her father we're looking for, after all. Alice, what do you think we should do?"

"I... um... I..." Alice closed her eyes for a few moments, before opening them with a fresh sense of determination shimmering alongside the tears. "We'll use a small flame." She said firmly.

Paul sighed. Charlotte looked around herself nervously. Emma and Ted exchanged an odd look of approval with each other.

And so Emma created and held a small flame in her hand as they searched for the next piece of evidence to tell them where the creature was. They followed the trail throughout the night and didn't rest once, not even when the sun began to rise and the sky was painted a light pink. However, they did stop when the trail came to an abrupt end.

"Everyone look around." Alice instructed with dark circles under her beautiful eyes that looked extremely out of place on her young face. "It must have changed direction."

They looked for half an hour for any sign of the blood. But there was none to be found.

At one point Ted found something blue, but it turned out to just be a caterpillar.

Suddenly, a distant bleating sound could be heard in their position.

"Did you hear that?" Asked Charlotte, walking to where the rest of the group was gathered.

Sure enough, after a few moments another bleat was heard.

"Yeah, I did that time." Paul answered.

_"Bahhh"_

"I vote we follow it." Suggested Ted, leaning against one of the trees.

Alice shook her head. "But what about-"

"He's dead, Alice." Ted interrupted. "He's dead and he has been dead for a while. This just proves it. If you keep on looking then that thing's gonna find you and you'll be dead too. Give up."

Alice looked on the verge of tears. She quickly turned her head away.

"That was uncalled for." Paul said quietly.

"But it's true and she knows it." Replied Ted. "And I bet you know that too, Paul."

"No, but I know-"  
<"Bahhh"

Emma looked up suddenly. "Okay I'm sorry to interrupt but that it getting really annoying and at this point I'm just curious. So I vote we go find out what's making that noise and then come back to look for Bill."

Ted glanced at Emma with a triumphant look on his face. "So you're agreeing with me?"

"No." Emma stated. "I'm never gonna agree with you, Ted."

Ted just shrugged and followed the sound of the bleats, with the others trailing after him, each gathered protectively around Alice.

Then Ted stopped abruptly from in front of them. "Oh my God."

"What?" Asked Emma, jogging up to join him, before clasping a hand over her mouth and laughing with relief.

Somehow, in a massive clearing in the middle of the forest, stood a mountain.

_The_ mountain.

Just as the legend foretold, Ayorka was huge. As the group struggled their way up, Paul couldn't help but wonder how they hadn't seen it before. Not only was it quite steep, but its sheer height should stand out from all the forest edges. How did it stay hidden? Or were they all just blind to it?

And so they continued to climb. The higher they went, the more the ground seemed to even out and the rocks completely disappeared, instead there simply grass like one would find in a field.

The bleats seemed to get louder too, and they increased in frequency. There were also many other noises which seemed to belong to a variety of creatures.

They were around two thirds up when they heard a screech.

Charlotte perked up immediately. "It can't be..." She muttered.

"What?" Asked Ted. "It can't be what?"

"No... nothing."

They had barely ascended a few more meters when out of nowhere, small stones and pebbles zoomed towards them.

"Look out!" Cried Emma as they all ducked to avoid getting hit.

It stopped quite quickly, but not without giving Ted a nasty bruise on his shoulder. Paul was secretly thrilled.

* * *

It was evening by the time they reached the top, and somehow the ground was almost flat even at the peak. But that wasn't what surprised them the most.

All around them were multiple large paddocks which each contained an animal of some sort. But what shocked them were the animals that they contained. There were wolves, llamas, sheep, penguins, polar bears... and a lone baby flying bison. Despite not being fully recovered from the long, tedious climb, Charlotte raced over to the little pen where the baby flying bison sat, grazing at some fresh grass.

"Oh, hello you! You're adorable! Yes you are!" She said as she stroked its head gently.

"Aren't they extinct?" Asked Emma as she joined Charlotte.

Charlotte shook her head as she continued to stroke the calf. "No, but they are extremely endangered." She focused on the creature again. "Who left you here, huh?"

"Uh, Charlotte?" said Paul and the group turned to face him. He pointed down at the bucket that was on its side next to the paddock, with fresh grass spilling out of it. "I don't think it was abandoned..."

"This must be it!" Emma cried with excitement. "Ayorka! These must all belong to the heal- Ow!"

Emma tried to rub her back where a pebble had hit her, but her arm was too short. She sighed in frustration.

The others had all turned to look at the source of the pebble, and all had equal amounts of shock when they saw a flying lemur scamper back up the remaining part of the mountain. Emma didn't waste a second in following it, running as fast as she could until she reached the very peak of Ayorka, where a wooden hut stood. The lemur had scurried inside and the door had closed behind it.

Emma looked around in awe before knocking on the door.

"Hello? Healers? I heard of your legend! Yeah, you're legends! My father came here years ago, do you remember him? Short with brown hair and purple eyes... you must remember that. I'm his daughter. Me and my friends were wondering if you could help us."

No response. She felt slightly nervous.

She knocked again. "Is anybody there?"

"Emma!" Called Paul from the other side of the hut. "Come here quick!"

Emma raced around the house to find the others all gathered near the back wall of the hut, where a tall, wide-eyed figure stood with the lemur on his shoulder.


	15. Ayorka

Emma hesitantly stepped next to Paul to get a better look at the figure, and her body immediately tensed.

He looked... odd.

He was tall and lean, with grey hair that stuck up wildly. His dull blue eyes carried many years of wisdom and learning, with lines of age sagging underneath them. At first glance, he appeared to be quite an old man. But then Emma looked closer.

His skin was clear and his jawline was sharp. Every other feature on his body was youthful and seemed to radiate energy. Even the way his shoulders were tensed up proved that he was far from old.

Emma couldn't take her gaze away from him. Only someone suffering from immortality could have such an appearance. Under her breath, she let out the words she had been waiting so long to utter. 

"Ayorka..."

Paul stepped closer to the man, who squirmed uncomfortably against the wall of the hut. 

"He sneaked out the back." He informed Emma. "He tried to run away but he saw us and ran back." He then turned to the man, who's eyes had become almost unnaturally wide as his pupils darted about.

"Who are you?" Paul demanded. "Why did you try to run?"

The man said nothing.

Emma held her hand up. "Paul, let me do this."

Paul nodded and stepped back, giving Emma the chance to confront the man.

While they did so, said man raised one arm in order to stroke the lemur on his shoulder. He muttered something in a tongue that the others could not understand. _"You did well, Xalior."_

He quickly snapped his head back when Emma stood right in front of him.

"Hello, my name's Emma. I heard about you and your wife's healing powers, and that was what lead us here." She paused when the man continued to look at her in confusion. "Can you understand me?"

He stared at her for a few seconds, before nodding hesitantly. Emma breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's your name?" Charlotte asked timidly.

The man hung his head like a dog.

Ted was impatient. "Do you talk?"

The man seemed to think for a while. "...yes." He answered eventually with a deep voice, gruff from lack of use.

"Are these animals yours?" Inquired Charlotte with more confidence.

The man nodded but then shook his head. "They... don't belong to me. But they choose to stay with me." He pointed at himself for emphasis.

"So um," Paul said, "we were wondering if we could take shelter here for a while. There's some strange creatures-" Paul could have sworn he saw the man's ears prick up- "infecting people and we hoped you and your wife would help to heal them while we take shelter here."

The man looked down again and the group all stood nervously around him as they waited for an answer.

He looked up with a strange smile and gestured towards his hut.

"Follow me."

They cautiously followed the mysterious man as he led them around to the front of the house.

As they walked, Paul shuffled closer to Emma. "Something feels off." He whispered.

Emma continued to walk. "He's immortal, of course it'll feel weird."

The man pushed open the small wooden front door and entered his hut. The group followed closely behind him. Once the last person, who happened to be Alice, had walked through it, the door slammed shut by itself.

"What was that for?!" Shouted Ted in a voice that sounded a little too high to be considered manly.

The man gave Ted a look to make it seem like his reason was obvious. "You want to stay here, don't you?"

Ted nodded nervously.

"Then let me show you around."

Emma had an idea. "So, you're letting us stay?" She asked with a mischievous grin.

"Yes..." The man answered slowly, knowing that there was more to what the woman was saying.

"Then we have to know the name of our host, don't we?"

The man thought for a moment, before holding his finger up stubbornly. "But as your host, shouldn't I know the names of my guests?"

Emma cursed under her breath. The man was smart and her plan had backfired. Somehow, she admired him a little bit. It was the sort of response that she would have given.

"Of course!" Paul tried to take over the conversation but Emma wanted to talk more with the man. "I-"

"I'm Emma." She interrupted. "And this is Paul, Ted, Charlotte and Alice. Now, what's your name?"

"My... name." The man's yellow eyes (were they always yellow?) darted to each of them, before they settled on the ground.

"Do you have a name?" Charlotte asked.

The man began to shake his head, but quickly switched to nodding. "Yes- no- I... I think I did but... my name is-"

He made a strange gargling sound with his throat.

Emma blinked. "Is that your name or..?"

"It's what they call me." The man replied shamefully, gesturing towards the window out of which various animals were roaming in their small fields.

"And it's what Xalior calls me. Xalior!"

On cue, the flying lemur scurried around everyone's feet and quickly climbed up the man's long leg as if it were a tree, before once again perching on his shoulder.

"Uh, maybe you should have a normal name." Paul suggested awkwardly. "You know, one we can actually say."

The man's (far too pale) cheeks began to glow a light pink as he blushed.

"How about Ayorka?" Emma said suddenly. "It's the name of the mountain, and I think it's a nice name. What about you?"

The man opened his mouth to speak but Emma cut him off.

"Well obviously you do, you're the one who named it."

He turned his head away from the group. Still facing away, he replied. "Alright then, Ayorka." He almost hissed the name back at them.

Which made it even harder for Alice when she asked nervously: "Excuse me, Mr Ayorka?"

"Ayorka" turned to face her. She bit her lip. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but one of those creatures took my father, and we were wondering if you could help us find him."

Ayorka froze. His shoulders tensed, prompting Xalior to hop off them and scramble away. His (red?) eyes widened unnaturally as he stared into space.

Alice felt scared. "Sorry, did-"

"No!" Ayorka screamed, before composing himself. "No, I haven't seen anyone. And there's no point in looking for him because he's dead, some of the creatures have tried to kill my animals so I know for a fact that he's dead." He said far too quickly. He took a breath, and added: "I'm sorry for your loss."

Ted threw a smug look at Paul. Paul glared back. 

Alice shook her head. "No..." she whimpered, her eyes welling up with tears. "We came so far... he can't have..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the thought. 

Charlotte briskly walked to her side an enveloped her in a warm hug. "It's alright, sweetie. It's alright. He's safe now. Just let it out." She soothed.

The others, even Ted, joined Charlotte in comforting the broken Alice as they all mourned the loss of Bill.

Ayorka watched them from a distance and frowned. He hadn't been prepared for this. He silently slipped away from the scene in order to make sure that the door to his room was locked. It was, and he let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding.

This was going to be difficult.


	16. I Promise I'm Not A Vampire

They had settled in surprisingly quick. The hut somehow managed to squeeze in four small bedrooms, so they decided to split them fairly. Of course, Ayorka had one to himself. Paul and Ted shared, because they were used to being housemates. Emma had one to herself. Charlotte insisted that Alice stay with her, knowing that she would need someone by her side as she mourned Bill.

However, they were hardly bedrooms. They were only a few square meters large, and each contained a hammock (they had to make more so that there was enough).

Feeling his farm worker instincts kicking in, Paul had offered to help tend to the animals. Ayorka had been hesitant, but allowed him under strict conditions. No feeding and no stroking. He was only allowed to clean the paddocks and refill their troughs. Paul was satisfied.

Charlotte too had offered to help, and she performed her usual task of watering Ayorka's crops using the water from his well.

Neither Alice or Ted worked. Alice because she was broken, and was barely speaking to anyone except Charlotte. Ted because he couldn't be bothered.

Emma, on the other hand, tended to stay inside the hut and try to think of ways to kill the creatures and save the people with Ayorka. They hadn't thought of a plausible idea yet.

As for Ayorka, Emma noticed that he acted very odd. They had all assumed that his healer wife was dead after they noticed women's things in one of the drawers, and they had collectively decided not to bring it up.

But Ayorka was even more of a mystery to Paul. His eyes seemed to be a different colour every time he looked, and he avoided all questions about his past, not to mention the fact that he disappeared for almost hours at a time. Which was strange, seeing as there was nowhere to go.

About a week after their arrival, Emma found Ayorka sitting on the wooden platform at the back of his house. She pulled up as much courage as she could muster, before walking up to him and sitting next to him.

"Ayorka?"

He didn't respond. He hadn't taken too keenly to his new name, which was odd as he was the one to name his mountain.

She tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Ayorka?"

His body suddenly jerked towards her. "Yes?" He answered with a weight to his voice that Emma hadn't heard before. It carried pain and sorrow. He must have been really deep in his thoughts.

She looked him in his green eyes. "You're a healer, right?"

He fiddled with his shirt awkwardly. "...yes." He replied finally.

"Could you-“ Emma took a deep breath- "Could you take a look at my neck?"

She brushed her hair aside so that Ayorka could see the secret that she had been hiding for almost a month.

The large silver spine that was wedged deep into her skin was still there, and the skin around it was red and infected. The veins that spread from that area were a neon blue and were enlarged and visibly throbbing. To sum it up, it was very painful.

"Dyra..." Ayorka muttered as he stared at Emma's wound.

"What?"

"Nothing. How long have you had this?" He asked, blinking a few times.

Emma frowned. "Since the things appeared."

Ayorka was fascinated. "You should have died. But then why didn't-“

He stopped suddenly and his jaw snapped shut. He cautiously reopened his mouth and stated: "I can remove it for you."

Emma's eyes filled with hope. "Really?!" She cried.

Ayorka nodded. "Yes, but not here. Not now. I want to do a little research first, make sure I do it right."

Emma's face fell.

"But don't worry. Look, it's late. Get some rest, we'll discuss it in the morning."

She sighed, and wished him goodnight before retreating to her room.

As soon as the door to her room was closed, he sprung onto his feet and rushed into his room. He quickly removed the crates that he had recently placed onto his wall in order to reveal a small door. He unlocked it and rushed down the cold, stone steps.

He paced up and down the small underground corridor, ignoring his surroundings.

Pacing helped him think. Pacing was good. Pacing let him think of ideas. Pacing was the best way to research things.

He wasn't sure when he bent down and started to crawl up and down on his hands and knees. His hands rubbed against the stone floor, badly grazing them which added fresh blood stains to the older ones under him.

But that didn't matter. He was pacing.

And pacing was good.


	17. Waterproof Hands

The next morning, the group all gathered on the rug to eat their breakfast. There wasn't enough room around the small table for all of them, so they thought it was only fair for them all to sit together on the floor, much to Ted's annoyance.

Breakfast was now something they all looked forward to. Not for the freshly baked bread (though that was still delicious), but for the opportunity to spend some time with each other. As they all had their little roles on the mountain, they didn't have much time to spend all together.

Emma was uncharacteristically quiet. After her discussion with Ayorka the previous night, she had felt very unsettled. She was desperate to do something about her neck, but the immortal man hadn't even showed up for breakfast.

She waited until the running conversation had ended before she inquired about his whereabouts. "Hey, has anyone seen Ayorka this morning?"

"No, sorry." Paul instantly answered. "Wonder where he's got to this time."

Emma frowned. "Look, give him a break, alright? He's giving us his home and providing us with the things we need, you could at least act a little more grateful."

Paul had noticed that Emma was acting more grouchy over the last few days. She'd also been keeping her hair down. He desperately wanted to ask if she was alright, and to let her know that she could confide in him. But he didn't. Because he was a coward.

"Paul!" The group all looked at the doorway, where a very dishevelled Ayorka stood wobbling slightly. "Can I talk to you?"

Emma shot Paul a pointed look. Paul shrugged. "Sure, just give me a second."

He finished his mouthful, and heaved himself up to go and join Ayorka who was waiting outside for him.

"What's up?" He asked.

Ayorka's white eyes (this was the first time that Paul had seen them white, and he found it extremely unnerving) sparkled with... something.

"Do you mind moving those boulders over there? There was a storm overnight." He pointed to some small boulders that lay in one of the fields.

Paul looked at him in confusion. "I... I don't... I'm not an earthbender. I don't bend."

Ayorka scoffed. "Of course you're not. Could you get me some water from the spring, then?"

Paul furrowed his eyebrows. "Sure..." he said as he went to pick up one of the jars lying next to the hut.

"Ah ah ah!" Ayorka called, startling Paul. "With your bare hands."

"Um, okay..." Paul answered suspiciously, but did as he said.

Ayorka observed him as he walked over to the spring, cupped his hands, and brought back as much water as he could, without spilling a single drop.

It was just as he'd predicted.

"Well done!" He cried. "Now, hand it over to me."

Without another word, Paul hovered his hands over Ayorka's, and suddenly pulled them away to allow the water to fall into the man's large, pale hands. Immediately, the water began to slip through the gaps between Ayorka's fingers and onto the ground, despite them being tightly pressed together. It didn't take long for the water to disappear completely.

Paul watched in amazement. "Wow, my hands are pretty waterproof." He commented.

Ayorka grinned. "Thank you, Paul. This has been most enlightening. I apologise for disturbing your breakfast."

"It's nothing." Said Paul, still utterly bewildered about what just happened. He walked back inside and sat back down onto the rug.

"What was that about?" Asked Emma anxiously.

"I don't know." Paul answered honestly.

He reached out for another slice of bread, but he instantly recoiled and pulled his arm back, his eyes wide with surprise.

His hands weren't wet.

He looked outside. It was a warm morning with a clear sky. The sun might have just dried his hands. 

He wasn't quite sure why, but his mind flickered back to when Emma had asked him if he could bend. She must have got Ayorka to ask him too, just to be sure. It then flickered even further back to the tea shop, when Emma had insisted that he had saved her. He hadn't, of course He did have his eyes closed the whole time. But... what if…

No. Neither of his parents were benders. His brother wasn't a bender. He couldn't waterbend. Then again, why did Ayorka assume he was an earthbender at first? Even Emma hadn't thought that. He thought back to the farm. Sam had trapped them in a cage of rock. They had never actually discovered how they were released. All Paul remembered was being extremely angry. Then again, he had been extremely frightened when Emma was drowning in the water tank.

Two very mysterious unconnected events, neither having a plausible explanation.

_But they were connected._ A voice in his head nagged. _You were there._

The tea shop. The scroll. 30 years and no avatar. He was 30. He was 30 years old. He felt as if was about to explode with curiosity. He turned to Emma suddenly, only just noticing that Alice had already left.

"Hey Emma, do you think-"

_"FATHER!"_

Paul's head snapped up and he, along with the others, rushed over to the hallway where Alice was crumpled on the ground just outside the door to Ayorka's room.

"Alice! Alice sweetie, what's wrong?" Asked Charlotte as she quickly knelt down next to the girl and began to gently rub her back.

"N-Nothing. I thought I heard Father but... I was wrong." She said, brushing some of her dark hair away from her face.

Emma looked at Paul, who returned the gaze sadly. Alice was still struggling with the loss of Bill, and was having recurring nightmares about him. But this was the first time she had mentioned him in the day.

Charlotte gestured that they should go away. They obeyed. Ted walked outside, while Emma and Paul returned to the small living room.

Emma turned to him. "Sorry Paul, you were about to say something?"

Paul's thoughts were occupied by Alice. "Was I? I can't remember what it was."

Emma placed a reassuring hand onto his arm. "Well, if you remember then I'm not exactly going anywhere."

He placed his free hand on top of her's. "Oh yeah, Emma?"

"Yeah?"

He clenched his jaw, trying to think of a way to tell her about his outrageous idea. Would she believe him? Would she still be his friend?

"I-I think," he stammered, "I think that I-"

"You think that you what?" Emma interrupted impatiently.

Whatever courage Paul had mustered completely disappeared.

"I think that... well..."

Paul looked down at his hands which were still sandwiching Emma's. He wondered maybe if he couldn't tell her, he could show her?

Without warning, he leaned forward until his face was only inches away from Emma's. Emma drew herself back. "Paul, what are you doing?"

Instantly, Paul regretted his decision. His cheeks turned their trademark red. "I... I'm sorry I just thought-"

"You thought... I didn't realise you actually thought that way." Emma herself started to blush.

Paul shook his head a little too hard. "No, that wasn't what I was-"

"Shhh." Emma hushed him. "Stop embarrassing yourself. You already look like an idiot."

Paul did, and he knew he did, but he didn't want to admit it. He just hung his head to avoid Emma's beautiful gaze. 

But Emma would have none of it. She used her free hand to tilt Paul's head towards her, and she gave him a quick peck on the lips. Somehow, Paul achieved the impossible. He went even redder.

She pulled her hand away, and walked towards the door. "I need to find Ayorka. You might wanna cool yourself down, you look like you're gonna explode."

Paul was left standing there in a dazed stupor. Emma had just kissed him. Emma liked him too. Emma-

He flinched suddenly and ran to the door. "Wait, Emma! I remember what I was gonna ask!"

But Emma was already out of sight.


	18. Lies

All Emma could think about was Paul as she dusted the interior of the hut. Ayorka really wasn't good at cleaning, so she had volunteered to do the basics. Ayorka had agreed, with the exception of his own room. She had already done most of it, all she had to do was the living room.

She couldn't erase the feeling of when she had kissed Paul the previous day. It was a spur of the moment, but she didn't regret it. In fact, she was excited as to what was in store for the two of them.

_But what if he changed his mind? What if he didn't like the kiss? What if-_  
She stopped herself before she delved too deep into her thoughts.

She had to assume the best. If he didn't want to go ahead with the relationship, he would have told her by now.

_Relationship._  
The word swam through her mind like a swarm of bees around a jar of jam.

She had never been in a relationship before. She remembered when her sister had brought her boyfriend home for the first time. They had looked so in love, it almost made her feel sick. She still remembered their smiling faces on their wedding day pictures.

It had broken her poor sister's heart when her groom had to move to Sarlin City, but it had hurt him even more when he heard about her death. Not once had he come to visit their family after that. Emma still felt resentment bubbling away.

Trying to distract herself, she let reality fall back into place around her.

She had almost finished dusting the living room, she just had a few more contents of the large drawer to do. She put down a small vase, when she spotted a small piece of parchment in the very corner of the drawer. She picked it up curiously.

It was a painting. It was a very small painting of the very hut she was standing in. But what intrigued her were the people standing in front of it.

There seemed to be an elderly couple, though the woman appeared to be significantly older than the man, and they stood proudly in front of the hut. Next to them was a younger woman, who held a young boy in her arms. The paint was fading, but the smiles on each of their faces were still very clear.

As the parchment seemed very old, Emma wondered who the people in the painting were. None of them seemed to resemble Ayorka, so perhaps they were some of the travellers he healed? Perhaps the woman was his wife? Perhaps he was the one doing the painting?

She squinted her eyes to try and spot any details that she had missed. That was when she noticed it.

The toddler's eyes were painted a bright orange. That shade wasn't an eye colour, so it must have been a mistake. Then she remembered that Ayorka himself had very strange eye colours, which seemed to change every time she looked. Sure enough, when she looked back down at the parchment, the toddler's eyes had changed colour. They were now pink.

It just didn't make sense to Emma. How could paint change colour? And if the child was Ayorka, then that meant...

...That meant he wasn't the creator of the mountain, nor the healer that they thought he was.

Emma gulped, and jumped out of her skin when she heard a familiar deep voice snarl from behind her:

_"Emma... what are you doing?"_

Emma spun around, quickly shoving the parchment back into the drawer. Ayorka didn't look angry, just confused. That was good. She didn't want a confrontation.

"I was, uh, just finishing off the dusting!" She answered, waving old dusting rag in the air.

She inspected Ayorka's face, and couldn't help but let out a little gasp. Just like on the painting, his eyes were a dull pink.

He looked her up and down with a small frown on his face. "Of course. Keep up the good work." He said with an edge of suspicion to his voice.

Emma sighed subtly. He hadn't noticed. She was safe.

Then she felt new questions arise inside of her. Could they trust Ayorka? She was the one that had dragged them all to his feet, begging for help. She had been the first to assume that he was the man from the legends. The healer suffering from immortality. Even his arguing appearance proved that he was at least some part immortal. How could a man be so old yet so young at the same time?

But there was one question that kept on nagging at her: Should she tell the others?

They had all settled in happily on the mountain, and Ayorka had almost become their grouchy father figure. What if she told them, and they decided to leave and consequently were killed straight away? What if they didn't trust her, because she was the one who trusted him?

She decided not to. She would do a bit more digging on the mysterious Ayorka, and would find some hard evidence before jumping to conclusions.

Emma excused herself and hurried out of the living room.

Ayorka watched her go, before he himself walked into the room towards the drawer that Emma had just cleaned. He opened it slowly, and sighed as he saw the familiar parchment sitting on the very top. So she had seen it.

He really ought to be less careless.

Slipping the paper into his pocket, he left the room to go find Emma. She still needed her surgery done after all, and it would be better to do it while she still trusted him. He didn't want her to suffer for too long.

Emma sat on the wooden platform outside the hut, and was deep in her thoughts. Which was probably why she didn't notice Ayorka creeping up behind her.

"Emma!" He whispered aggressively. "Follow me, I've got the others busy with other things. I've done my research and I'm ready to deal with your neck."

She looked at him. He looked so sincere, but a part of her wondered if it was all an act. She forced a smile, and nodded. "Let's go."

The forced smile didn't go unnoticed. Ayorka frowned. 

He led her quickly by the hand, and stopped outside his own room. "Here, I think it would be best to-"

He stopped mid-sentence, and Emma looked up at him with confusion. 

"No, no forget that. Let's go to your room."

Without giving Emma a chance to reply, he spun on his heel and walked in the opposite direction to Emma's small room. He opened the door and gestured for her to go inside. "Here, you can lie down on your front. I'll just go get my things." And with that, he was gone.

Emma stood there, bewildered for a few seconds. After her discoveries about Ayorka, should she trust him to perform surgery on her? She felt her instinct begging at her to refuse.

But the sharp pain in her neck caused her to groan out loud. If she left it, she knew that the spine would kill her eventually. The throbbing veins had almost extended to both her face and shoulder. She would have to take a chance, and hope that the blind faith in him would pay off.

It didn't take long for Ayorka to return with a pouch full of tools and herbs, and he found Emma sitting on the bed facing him instead of lying down as he had instructed. "Ah..."

She stared at him slightly nervously. "Before we do this," she began, "I want to be able to trust you."

He gritted his teeth momentarily, before slowly opening his mouth. "Is this about the picture?"

"Yes."

"I see."

They looked at each other for a few minutes, both trying to force the other to speak.

Eventually, Emma grew impatient. "Was it you... the- the child?"

Ayorka sighed. "Yes." He answered with what Emma thought was regret.

She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. She decided to ask another question. "Who are the other people?"

The shocked expression on his face melted into one of sadness. "My family."

"Oh..."

She'd suspected as much, but to hear him say it in such a tragic way made her almost feel sorry for him. But she knew she couldn't. He'd lied to them.

She was about to interrogate him even more, when he interrupted her.

"The man- the _older_ man, was my grandfather. He was the one to create this entire place. The woman next to him was his wife. My grandmother. They were the healers."

Emma suddenly felt a pool of dread begin to bubble in her stomach. Ayorka wasn't a healer and he was about to operate on her.

"Are you a healer?" She asked suddenly.

He seemed to be put off guard by this question. "Yes, b-but I- that is to say, I've not had much practise on humans."

That really didn't quench Emma's fear.

They stared at each other for a few seconds. This time Ayorka was the one to break the silence. "Is there anything else?"

Emma desperately tried to think of something else. Something to put off the inevitable, but she couldn't think of anything. Her limbs felt like jelly and her mind had gone blank. A new thought suddenly occurred to her: What if she died?

She shook it away quickly. No, Ayorka wouldn't let her die. He told her the truth after all, without asking a question himself. "No." She answered hesitantly as she lay down on the bed on her stomach. Ayorka had been honest with her, and she could feel that every word he said was true. She could trust him.

Ayorka ran a hand through his hair. That had been far too close. But the important thing was that she trusted him, at least enough to allow him to perform surgery on her. He could make one of his biggest discoveries to date, and that could help him raise-

"Hey, is your name really Ayorka? I mean, you've told me all of this, now you've gotta tell me your name."

He brushed all of his thoughts aside. His research would have to wait. He had another creature to look after, and it was a human of all things. This was more important.

He repeated that thought over and over in his head as he pulled out a sharp tool from his pouch.

Looking at her, lying there with full faith in him, made him feel happy. Someone trusted him enough that they would let him do what he was about to do. Even he trusted her enough to tell her some of his own family history. She could be the daughter he never had.

Knowing that she couldn't see him, he let himself do what he had been itching to do. He cocked his head to one side, and felt his red eyes widen. Finally.

He grinned as he moved closer to her. "My name is Henry."

Emma turned her head slightly on her pillow. "Henry? That's a nice name. It kinda suits you."

She heard the sound of something metallic falling to the floor. She sat up quickly to see Ayorka frozen where he stood, the hand which used to be holding the scalpel shaking in front of him.

"Are you okay?" She asked nervously as she noted that his eyes were changing colour at an alarming rate.

Without moving a muscle, his gaze fell onto her. "Who's Henry?" He asked in a monotonous voice.

Emma looked at him in confusion. "You are..?" She replied, unsure if the man was being serious or not. "You just said-"

"NO!"

Emma shuddered at the sudden outburst. Ayorka, still in the same position as before, continued to shake. He cleared his throat and finally moved to pick up the scalpel. "I'm sorry, it's been a very long time since I heard that name spoken out loud. I may have been Henry once, but not any more. Henry is no longer my name."

He looked Emma in the eyes in order to emphasise his sincerity. Emma gave a slightly nervous smile in return. His eyes had settled to a lilac.

Once again, she arranged herself upon the bed, desperate to get the surgery over with.

She heard Ayorka fiddle with his pouch, before his footsteps came towards her. Emma felt her heart thumping in her chest. She could hear the blood pounding in her ears. Every sound was amplified.

She was absolutely terrified.

"Are you ready?" She heard Ayorka's deep voice ask from behind her.

She gave a muffled "Yes" in reply, before squeezing her eyes shut and gritting her teeth. She wasn't ready at all, but she was never going to tell him that. Especially after the strange behaviour he had just shown.

Suddenly, an odd aroma seemed surround her from right under her nose. It was a sweet aroma, and it reminded her of the candles back in the tea shop. She missed the tea shop. She missed her colleagues. She missed her family. She missed her sister and her husband, she missed her mother, she missed her father...

_Her father._

It had completely slipped her mind to ask Ayorka about her father. She tried to open her mouth, but found that it was bound shut by some invisible force. She tried to move her hand instead. It wouldn't budge. She forced all of her consciousness into her hand, causing it to twitch ever so slightly, before it lay limp. She couldn't move.

For some reason, that didn't bother her. It didn't matter.

The smell was nice.

And with that last thought, she finally allowed deep sleep to wash over her.

Ayorka sighed as watched Emma's chest rise and fall slowly with heavy breaths. Admittedly the aroma was far stronger than what he expected would be healthy for a human, but he had no choice. He couldn't let her see what he was going to do.

And he couldn't let her suffer.

He took a brief moment to examine his scalpel. Technically, it wasn't his. It was his grandmother's that he had dug out. He had only ever had a need to use it on his animals and lemurs and monkeys and snakes and beetles and bison...

Exposed skin was a different matter entirely.

Taking a deep breath for courage, he approached Emma's bare neck, and grimaced at the large spine lodged in her skin. He gently pressed the blade onto her skin, before quickly pulling it off again.

Would it be better just to pull it out with his fingers?

One quick look at the throbbing blue veins around the injury put him off that idea.

But... would it affect _him?_

There was only one way to find out.

Using his index finger and thumb to get a good grip around the bloody, silver spine, he began to pull...


	19. Gratitude

Emma groaned as her eyes flickered open, and almost instantly she felt different. Too different.

She pulled herself to sit up in bed (why was she tucked in?) and she looked at her hands. There was nothing different about them. She took a quick breaths. Nothing different about her breathing. She looked inside her top. Her body was the same.

Then why did she feel... empty?

"You're awake."

She looked up to see Ayorka sitting on a small wooden chair at the end of the bed, smiling at her.

"Pass me that mirror." She demanded, not bothering to respond to his remark.

Ayorka obeyed, and passed her a small hand mirror. She looked at it and realised what was missing from her body.

The spine.

"You... you did it?" She asked, not bothering to hide the shock in her voice.

He raised an eyebrow. "Why do you sound so surprised? Did you think I was going to kill you or something?"

She pressed a hand against the light bandage around her neck. "To be honest with you, yeah."

His smile faded, and Emma felt odd. Why had she thought that he was going to kill him? Her mouth had spoken, not her brain. She decided to make it up to him.

"Well, thanks Ayorka."

His head snapped up. "Ayorka?"

She furrowed her brows and stared at the man. "That's your name isn't it?" She asked, before adding "Unless it isn't, do you have a proper name?"

He seemed to stare at her back for a few seconds, pure bewilderment painted onto his face, before he slowly shook his head.

"No... no I don't." He replied in a voice that sounded a little too high for Emma to feel comfortable. "I don't know why I said that. Forget it."

And to his amazement, she did. 

What a stroke of luck.

Emma began to pull the covers off her body. "I'm gonna go find Paul and the others. How long was I out?"

For the first time that Emma had ever seen, he stumbled over his own words. "I-um, that is, uh- not long. Not long at all."

She shrugged as she rose out of bed, quickly checked her appearance, and walked out of the door. 

At last Ayorka felt safe to open his clenched fist, where the spine he had so tightly held for the whole night had dug into (and even pierced) his skin.

_Research_ was going to be extra exciting later.


	20. Pacing

Pacing was good.  
Pacing helped to clear the mind.  
Pacing helped you think.  
As he paced, his fist tightened around the spine.  
Xalior, the flying lemur, scurried around his feet as if to stop him.  
Why would he stop? He was doing research.  
But for some reason, his mind couldn't settle.

He didn't understand. He had all his resources, all his treasures contained in the thick stone walls around him. He had never had trouble before. Why did he feel so uncomfortable?

Xalior climbed up his leg and perched onto his shoulder. He stroked it gently with his hand, hoping to soothe both Xalior and himself.

At first he didn't understand why Xalior screeched when he touched him.

Still, he shushed him every time. He couldn't risk waking the slumbering innocents above him. He picked Xalior up and put him on one of the large stone shelves carved out of the rock around him and found himself to be shocked.

Xalior's white fur had a slight blue tinge from where he had stroked him. Instinctively he looked down at his hand. The spine was still held between his fingers, but it had not affected him in any way.

Interesting.

For the first time in hours, he put down the spine in order to wash his friend's fur. It took a lot of scrubbing, but eventually the blue faded.

He then felt very curious. The Myrok could affect living creatures indirectly too? Interesting...

Striding over to his latest treasure, he placed a hand over its container. It became burnt instantly. He winced slightly. The mark would fade eventually.

Walking along the blood-stained stone corridor, he thought about what to do next.

He would have to regain Emma's trust. He had lost it most unfairly. She had no right to be snooping. He would have to deal with Ted. He was being (for the lack of a better term)... useless.

However, his next move was obvious. Literally, obvious.

_Paul._

* * *

Paul woke early as usual.

He would never admit it, but he quite liked living on the mountain. They felt like a family, even though he and Emma hadn't discussed their kiss since... the kiss.

It didn't matter. Ayorka had started to trust him more with the animals, and he had an emotional attachment to Yibble, the baby flying bison.

That morning, as he was giving Yibble her milk, he noticed Ayorka storming down the hill towards him. He looked up with surprise. "Hi Ayorka, what's wr-"

His sentence fell short when Ayorka gave him a sharp slap on his cheek.

"You're the Avatar." He stated blankly, before storming back up the hill leaving a very confused Paul to rub his sore cheek.

Paul stood there, dazed for a few moments, before putting down the milk (and giving Yibble a quick pat on the head) and running to catch up with Ayorka.

"Wait," he said, trying to get his breath back, "what did you just say?"

An irritated Ayorka spun on his heel to face Paul. "Are you deaf?" He asked.

"N-No, but I just misheard you. I thought you said that I was the Avatar, haha. Also, why on earth did you just hit me?!"

Ayorka made a gesture to make it seem as if Paul had just stated the obvious. When Paul didn't respond, he sighed. "You heard me." He said gruffly, attempting to carry on his walk to the hut. But Paul stood in his way.

"Get out of my way Paul."

Paul shook his head and held his hands out to block Ayorka's path. "No, no, I'm not going to until you give me an explanation. I-It's not funny to make jokes like that. I'm not a bender, I'm definitely not the Avatar, and that's that. Now, explain."

Paul gulped when Ayorka clenched his jaw. But he still held his stance.

"Paul, _move."_ Paul didn't move.

Well, he didn't move until he suddenly found himself lying on his back. The experience was painful. "Wh-"

"Damn, it's not been that windy for a _long_ time." Stated Ayorka, outstretching a hand. Paul took it gladly and pulled himself back onto his feet, brushing himself off.

"I... what was that?"

Ayorka shrugged, but his neon blue eyes darted about with guilt seeping through them..

He was about to finally go back to the hut, but Paul didn't let go of his hand. "You still haven't explained."

"Alright, fine. You win. You were supposed to figure all this out yourself, but I suppose it can't hurt too much if I give you another little push." Ayorka groaned.

Paul's eyes widened. "Another?"

Ayorka chuckled. "You were taking too long. Now come on, let's go around the back. It's a nice day to start training, isn't it?"

Paul, still bewildered and not quite understanding what was happening, nodded as he followed the other man. All of his suspicions about Ayorka seemed to evaporate without leaving a trace.

Training, huh?

Okay.


	21. Training..?

Emma watched in confusion as Ayorka led Paul to the field behind the hut. She had been sitting on a fence nearby, trying to concentrate. Recently she had been having a lot of trouble thinking in general.

Still, she couldn't help the growing concern she felt when she noticed that _only one_ of Paul's cheeks were red. That never happened.

She decided to find out what was going on. She slipped off the fence pole, and walked over to where Paul and Ayorka were engaged in a heated argument.

"I _can't_ bend!"

"YES YOU CAN! YOU'VE BEEN BENDING EVER SINCE YOU CAME HERE JUST WITHOUT REALISING IT!"

"Name one time."

"Um- THAT TIME WHEN YOU DIDN'T SPILL THE WATER!"

"What's going on here?" Emma stepped in, using a tone that a mother would use to break up a fight between small children.

Paul pointed at Ayorka. "Emma! Help me convince him I'm not the Avatar."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "You're not?"

Paul let out a strange sound in his frustration and covered his face with his hands. From the corner of Emma's eye, Ayorka smirked smugly.

She turned to him, and he just shrugged. "It's good that you're here, I was hoping you could teach Paul how to firebend, seeing as he can already waterbend and we don't have an earthbender with us."

"I _can't_ bend!" A muffled voice pleaded.

"Shut up Paul."

Emma looked between the two and blinked a few times, not sure how to process the situation. "Wait, let me get this straight. Paul is the Avatar. He can already waterbend and earthbend-"

"He can earthbend?!" Ayorka asked suddenly.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, he saved us back on his farm. It was pretty scary."

"Oh." Ayorka sat down on the grass, defeated. That just made things more complicated... in a good way.

"So he can waterbend and earthbend," Emma continued, "and now you want me to teach him to firebend? No offence, but I'm not a good teacher. Besides, why can't you teach him?"

Ayorka looked Emma in the eye. "Because I'm not a firebender..?"

"I'm... sorry, I don't know why I said that. But I could have sworn you-" Emma broke off her own sentence, wracking her brains to try and think of an explanation as to why she thought Ayorka could firebend. She could think of none, but she couldn't remove the image of him firebending in her mind. It made so much sense, yet it didn't make any at all. Why couldn't she think straight?

She cleared her throat and turned to Paul, who was hugging his knees and hyperventilating. "Sure, I'll teach him."

"Good." Said Ayorka, before retreating onto the wooden platform at the back of the hut.

Emma took a deep breath before offering a hand to Paul. "Come on, let's try and figure out what the Hell is wrong with you."

"But I'm not-"

"Shut up Paul, you're only fooling yourself."


	22. Many years ago...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashback.

_"No, Mother!" She screamed, causing her father to storm into the room. The hut wasn't huge, but it was just big enough to comfortably house them all, so it didn't take him long._

_"What- what go on here?" He asked sternly._

_His wife's hard look softened slightly as she turned to him. "What's going on here, you mean?" She glared back at their daughter. "Your daughter is insane, that's what's going on!"_

_Said daughter shuffled nervously, but held her stance. She was not going to step down, especially not with something like this._

_He sighed and turned to her. "Ayla, please tell what make your mother so upset."_

_She looked down at the wooden floor, unable to find the words that she had so confidently told her mother just a few minutes ago._

_Her mother stood up from the bed angrily. "Go on! Tell him! Let's see what he makes of it."_

_He held his hand up defensively, as if he were soothing one of his animals._

_"I'm pregnant." Ayla said quietly, her gaze fixed on the ground._

_He ran a hand through his greying hair and let out a deep sigh. "How long you know?"_

_"A few weeks now, Father."_

_"I see."_

_"You see?!" Her mother exclaimed. "You see?! What is there to see? There have been no young travellers in the last few months, and I trust you both to not do such a thing... so tell me, how can she be pregnant?"_

_Ayla looked up at her father for support. They shared something that her mother could not quite grasp. The trouble was making her believe them, rather than making her accept it._

_"My love, you know how I make Ayorka mountain, yes?"_

_She nodded hesitantly, almost scared about what was to come._

_"And you know what live on mountain?"_

_Realisation began to grow in the older woman's eyes, and she let out a squeak of shock and instantly covered her mouth with a shaky hand._

_"Ayla," she began, her voice muffled and high-pitched, "tell me you didn't..."_

_Ayla finally managed to look at her mother. "But he is beautiful, Mama. He talks to me and listens to me. He helps me with my bending and- and I love him."_

_There was nothing but silence, until her father spoke up. "You cannot understand them, my love. I know you cannot see him, but I can. He make a good son."_

_Her mother slowly pulled the hand away from her mouth, and walked until she was only inches away from the girl. "Ayla, my darling, why one of them? Why couldn't you marry a human, real person? Why a spirit?"_

_Ayla looked up suddenly. "B-But we're not married..."_

_A small but genuine smile began to creep onto her mother's face. "You will be soon."_

_Her husband gave her an approving look._

_"Oh, Mama, you mean..?"_

_"Yes, dear. But I expect a drawing of him. I want to be able to see if this man is good enough for my beautiful daughter."_

_"Oh, Mama!" Ayla sprung forwards and embraced her mother in a long, warm hug while her father watch happily from the side._

_Her mother turned to him. "Come here, you." Together, they pulled him in and the family hugged each other happily. Only two of them were aware of the ecstatic young man watching from the window._

He let out a deep sigh as he stared at the faded painting in his hand.

Very tall, slightly pointed ears (so that's where he gets it), bright orange eyes, tanned skin, a very lean build...

He folded it quickly and put it in his pocket. There was no use dwelling on the past. Besides, he had to finish what he'd started. Maybe, just maybe, he'll get to see them all at the end of it.

That's the problem when you're born into a semi-immortal family.

You never know what lies in store.


	23. Coach Emma

As soon as they were alone, Paul desperately gripped onto Emma's arms.

"Emma, listen to me. Something about all this is off, especially Ayorka. I mean, come on! Saying I'm the Avatar? That's way past crazy." He paused for a breath. "I'm not the Avatar, by the way. Just making that clear."

Emma looked at him. "Are you sure about that?" She asked firmly.

Paul took a moment to think, before eventually breaking eye contact and releasing Emma's arms. "No... I don't know."

She took a deep breath, and manoeuvred herself into a stance that her mother taught her when she was little. Knees bent, shoulders out, back straight. She'd always do it before work, to prepare herself for a day's worth of bending.

Somehow... it didn't feel right this time. She held it anyway.

"What are you doing?" Asked Paul, looking at her sceptically.

She gestured for him to copy her. "Are we doing this training thing or what?"

"Uhhhh okay."

With a bit of help, Paul copied Emma's stance, although his lanky frame made it feel a lot more awkward than it should. He twisted his neck sideways in order to talk to her. "So, now what?"

Emma didn't know. She hadn't planned on how to teach him to actually firebend. Of course, she'd seen him waterbend and earthbend under extreme pressure, but never firebend. Maybe if she recreated those circumstances...

"Hey, Paul!" She shouted suddenly.

Paul looked just in time to see her arm being aggressively thrust towards him. He closed his eyes...

Nothing happened.

"Dammit." Mumbled Emma.

Paul opened one eye ever so slightly, in order to see Emma's hand inches away from his face. "What-"

"Just hold on."

Emma moved backwards and took up a different stance, one where every part of her body was straightened. She then gracefully moved her hands up and down with her breathing.

Paul just watched in confusion, taking a step back to avoid another... potential attack?

"Come on..." Emma grumbled to herself, and the rate of her breathing began to increase.

"Uh, Emma? I'm gonna go get Ayorka." As soon as the words left his mouth, he turned and jogged inside the hut, calling for the owner.

Emma didn't hear, she was too busy breathing and moving her hands at a rapid rate. If she was going to try again, she was going to get it right.

"You see?" Said Paul, dragging a very irritated Ayorka by his sleeve whilst also pointing at Emma.

Ayorka looked at Emma briefly, cocking his head slightly (Paul could never get used to that). "Eh." He said, breaking free from Paul's grip and returning back inside the hut.

Immediately after, a humongous burst of fire sprouted from Emma's hands and into the sky, causing her to fall backwards.

"Oh." She said, looking up at where the flames had disappeared. "But I didn't-"

"Emma, that was great!" Cried Paul, running towards her. "For a minute there I thought you had lost it, but it turns out you were just building up to... that. Are you okay?"

Emma brushed herself off used Paul's leg to haul herself back onto her feet. "Yeah, I'm fine. B-But-"

"You know what? If I am the Avatar, first thing I want to do is for you to teach me to do that."

Emma's look of bewilderment morphed into one of glee. "Paul, you admitted it!"

"I what now?"

"You admitted that you're the Avatar!" She repeated, pulling in for a hug in her excitement.

But the sudden excitement faded very quickly, and she was left with her hands thrown around Paul. She tilted her face up to look at him.

He rubbed the side of his face. "Yeah... yeah I guess I did. I _could_ be the Avatar."

Emma sighed. "Come here, you moron." She pulled herself up and took the opportunity to give him a kiss on his lips. It was brief, but judging by the shade of red that his skin immediately turned, he enjoyed it.

"That... that was good." Paul said quickly.

"Yup." Emma agreed.

"So um," he continued, "does this mean we're... a thing?"

She pulled away from him suddenly. "What do you mean?"

The grass underneath Paul looked very interesting all of a sudden. "I mean, um-"

"Of course we are, moron." She pulled him for yet another brief kiss. This one was even shorter, yet somehow it meant more.

A huge, goofy smile crept its way onto Paul's face. Emma mirrored it. Reality then sank back in, and Paul realised how hot his cheeks actually were.

"I'm gonna go back i-inside." He stuttered, still not breaking eye contact with Emma.

"You go do that." She replied, giving him the thumbs up.

He laughed in response, spun around dizzily, and began to stumble his way back up the hill.

_Emma loved him back._

His parents always used to say he was hopeless when it came to love, and his older brother was much better. He got married to a lovely girl, leaving Paul to awkwardly answer the question: "Do you have someone in your life?" He had always denied, but now (if anyone were to ask him) he could say that yes! He was with someone! He was with beautiful, powerful, amazing Emma.

How could someone like Emma want to love someone like him? Whatever the reason, he was happy. Overjoyed. Thrilled. Ecstatic-

He crashed into a figure standing in the doorway of the hut.

"Ayorka! What are you doing there? I-I'm sorry, I was just- sorry," He kept on apologising as he continued through the door and into his shared bedroom.

He was going to sleep happily tonight with the knowledge that he and Emma were in a relationship.


	24. Not As Many Years Ago...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashback.

_"Father, please." She begged, hunched over his body with delicate tears streaming from her soft eyes._

_He coughed. "I'm sorry, Ayla, but I finally get chance to die. I not miss that chance."_

_Her spirit husband watched from a short distance away, a solemn look on his freckled face. "This isn't possible." He said quietly._

_Ayla turned her head to face him, her ear still resting on her father's chest. "Zorin, not now."_

_"It just doesn't make sense." He continued, not heeding her warning. "He's lived longer than even I have, and so there must be some cause for this, some reason as to why age only affects him now."_

_Her father raised a shaky, wrinkled hand to wave off his idea but Ayla quickly put it down back at his side again. "No matter, now at least I be with your mother."_

_This only prompted fresh eyes to spring to her eyes._

_Her father moved his hand out of her grasp in order to stroke her dark hair lightly. She cupped her own hands around his, not only to support them but as a tether to life. One that they all knew was running out._

_"I love you, darling." He wheezed before turning his head ever so slightly to meet eyes with her spirit husband. "Look after her, she only human."_

_Zorin nodded, wishing that he had the ability to cry. He was an outcast of his race, and as he had also been an outcast from his community, Ayla's father had allowed him to reside on the mountain of his creation._

_The couple watched as the old man's chest rose and fall with every heavy breath he took, until at last it stopped moving altogether. Ayla refused to let go._

_The two stayed in their positions for a while, before Zorin broke the silence suddenly. "Jilran!" he exclaimed, hovering with his own surprise._

_Ayla jerked her head, her tear stained face very confused. "What about him?"_

_"It's the blood! The blood carried down, oh this makes sense now!"_

_Ayla looked annoyed. "Please my love, not now. Explain another day."_

_But Zorin didn't listen. "You carry your father's blood, correct?"_

_She nodded slowly, and the horrid realisation dawned upon her. "Mother said age only showed on Father's face after I was born..."_

_Zorin moved closer to his wife, and placed his small hands on her supple shoulders. "So Jilran carries your blood, and his blood with it. And the effect it had..."_

_A new theory happened upon him. "But y-you... it will happen to you too."_

_Ayla finally let go of her father in order to face Zorin fully. "What." She stated, her voice cracking slightly._

_But Zorin was too engrossed in his own thoughts. "You will grow old far before me..."_

_They were both startled suddenly by a screech from below them._

_"Jilran!" He exclaimed and immediately began to run down the clean, stone steps in order to reach the rock corridor where they had left their son, with Ayla not far behind._

_He stopped in his tracks when he saw what had happened._

_Their son, not yet in his teens, had his back turned to them at the very end of the tunnel. In his hands was a blinding, glowing object. Ayla screamed when she saw it._

_"Jilran!" Zorin called, getting no response from the boy. "Jilran, put it down! You don't know what that's doing! Jilran!"_

_His shouts fell upon deaf ears._

_"Jil-" Ayla put a hand on her husband's chest, silencing him. She slowly began to approach her son, who was now glowing with the power surging through him._

_"Henry? Henry, it's me, Mama. Can you hear me?"_

_The boy didn't move._

_"Henry, put the orb down. It's forbidden, remember? It's hurting you. It killed Grandfather. Please, put it down." She said soothingly._

_For a brief moment, the boy turned his head, and Ayla felt her heart sink when she saw the rivers of tears on her son's face, coming from eyes that were emitting a blinding light, mirroring the orb._

_"Henry..." She pleaded, now terrified with the knowledge that her boy had lost control._

_He seemed to force his jaw open, only for it to snap shut again. He tried again, this time only letting a small word escape._

_"Mama?"_

_And just like that, the light burst from his body, shattering the dangerous orb in the process. The explosion stretched to the perimeter of the entire mountain, causing it to shudder uncontrollably. All signs of life around him disappeared._

_When sense finally came back to him, the boy found himself still stood up._

_His parents were nowhere to be seen. The constant din from the animals outside has ceased._

_His hands were bleeding from the shards of orb that had dug into his skin. Almost instantly, they somehow began to heal. He pulled out one of the larger shards and looked at his reflection._

_His eyes glowed with a dangerous light that was changing colour at a rapid rate._

Only then did it occur to him that he was alone.


	25. Yes, Ted Still Exists

Having weaselled his way out of working for a few weeks, Ted had been put under peer pressure to do his part on the mountain.

Being a non-bender (and because Paul already took all of the easy jobs) he was placed in charge of wood collecting. They had the massive forest of Halka surrounding the base of the mountain, so they were in no short supply, so he couldn't help but feel that they were making him work for the sake of it.

But still, he couldn't help but feel lonely. Nothing but trees and grass and animals and... eggs?

He gulped. There was a large cluster of speckled blue eggs in a small clearing between some of the smaller trees.

He cursed under his breath.

Cautiously, he approached them, outstretching his hand. He could always be hallucinating, after all. He was just paranoid.

He stroked the nearest one and immediately pulled his hand back upon feeling the heat being emitted from it.

Then it moved.

It shook gently, and he screamed. He tended to scream a lot in his zone at the bottom of the mountain. Nobody could hear him. Nobody would care. But then what if it hatched? He could be eaten alive by those things and no-one would hear him. 

Nobody would know. Nobody would care.

_Charlotte would._

He shook his head at his own thought. No. If he was going to die, he would not drag Charlotte with him.

Keeping his eyes on the eggs, he backed away slowly. He felt uneasy, and just wanted to get out of the area as soon as he could. His back hit some tree trunks. He just continued to reverse. Suddenly, his head hit a patch of freezing cold air. He yelped and spun around.

Floating in the air was a translucent bubble just bigger than his head, with a greyish blue dot in the middle. It almost looked like frogspawn.

"Oh no..." he mumbled.

Examining the dots closer, it resembled a small version of the winged creature that had taken Bill.

More eggs.

Fuelled by his fear, Ted's brain performed the unusual task of thinking. Why would there be so many eggs near the mountain? Wouldn't Ayorka have some sort of defence mechanism? He seemed to know quite a lot about the various blue creatures.

Come to think of it, why hadn't they been attacked again? The mountain was much more exposed than the forest, shouldn't they be sitting targets? Especially since there were so many eggs littered on it.

Unless... they _liked_ Ayorka?

It was a stupid thought. Ted knew it was a stupid thought. But those were his speciality.

He ran out of the edge of the forest and began to sprint back up the mountain. The sooner he ask Ayorka, the better. Ayorka was a cool guy, he would have a decent explanation. And if he had a special trick to keep the monsters away, then it would benefit them all to know about it.

He looked up. The sun was shining down on his eyes, blinding him. He put his hand over his face to try and make out his usual route to the hut, and almost jumped out of skin. 

The silhouette of Ayorka was standing there, looking down at him. Ted used his other hand to wave. Ayorka didn't move.

"Hey!" He yelled up to him. "D'you know about those eggs down there? Are you sure we're safe?!"

Ted could just about see Ayorka cock his head to the side, before he felt himself be swept off his feet.

He screamed. As he was standing on the steep slope of the mountain, he was thrown backwards and his head hit the ground underneath him hard.

It hurt. A lot.

He groaned and tried to open his eyes. He could feel the back of his head throbbing and his heart pounding. There was a dull ringing sound in his ears. All he could see was black, with streaks of light shimmering through his eyelids.

He managed to open his eyes enough so he could see through a small slit, just as he felt something grip onto both of his legs.

"Ayorka..?"

The last thing he felt was his body being dragged, leaving a trail of blood behind him.


	26. The Basement

Paul smiled as he poured a glass of water from the jug.

It had only been a few days since he had confessed his love to Emma, and he couldn't help but wonder why he kept it secret in the first place seeing as she had been so accepting of the whole ordeal.

He loved Emma, he really did, but there was just one thing that he didn't quite understand: Like Ayorka, she was convinced that he was the Avatar.

Of course, it was a possibility that he wasn't going to rule out entirely. But... the chances were low. The Avatar had never been a non-bender before, so why should the ancient cycle suddenly decide to spice things up? Luckily for him, Emma knew that it made him uncomfortable and knew when to stop talking about it.

He was grateful for that, but the nagging voice in his mind wouldn't go away. A voice telling him that not only could he be the Avatar, but there was something very off about Ayorka. Both the mountain, and the person.

He drank his cup of water and began to make his way back to the fields. He could save all of these thoughts for another time, right now he had a certain baby flying bison to attend to. Yibble couldn't go an hour without getting to see Paul, and he certainly wasn't going to disappoint her.

"Paul?" A female voice whispered behind him.

He turned around to see nothing but an empty hallway. Looking closer, he realised that it was an empty hallway with the door to Ayorka's room hanging wide open. A room that was strictly forbidden to enter.

He entered it nervously.

Lying with her ear pressed against the wooden floor was Alice. Her dark locks hid her face and she seemed to be focusing very hard on something.

"Alice?" Paul said, looking at the girl with confusion. "What are you doing? You're not supposed to be in here."

Alice hushed him as she stood up and brushed herself off. "I thought I heard... something. Something coming from underneath us."  
Paul sighed and shuffled closer to Alice. "You're hallucinating again. I can't imagine what it must be like for you to lose your father, but you have got to realise that he's gone."

He pulled her into a warm hug.

"I know it's hard and I know that you don't want to believe it. I don't want to believe it either. But it doesn't change the fact that it's true. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can help us figure out a way to get out of here safely. Okay?"

She shook her head and pushed Paul away. "No, it was real. I know it was real. I'm not stupid, I can tell the difference."

Paul was about to retaliate, but Alice had already made her way across the room, where boxes of supplies were piled up against the wall. "Help me get these down."

Knowing that there was no use in fighting back, Paul reluctantly walked to Alice's side. "Why?" He asked, trying not to let his irritation slip into his voice.

She turned to him, her irritation written clear on her face.

"It's obvious isn't it?" She said. "A pile of crates stacked up against a wall? There's bound to be a hidden door behind here."

Paul was about to ask: "Why would Ayorka have a hidden door?", but the words never left his lips. He'd always felt something... off about Ayorka and he was itching to find out if there was a reason for his uneasiness.

Together, they placed all of the boxes onto the floor next to the bed. Sure enough, they had been concealing a small wooden door from which came a very odd aroma.

Paul's eyes widened with amazement. "You were right." He stated, his eyes fixed on the door.

"Yes, I was." Alice replied, also looking at the door.

_"Oh my!"_

The startled pair instantly turned around to see Emma and Charlotte standing in the doorway. Charlotte had a hand covering her mouth, and Emma just looked at them in shock.

"What have you done to his room?!" Charlotte cried, making a move to pick up the boxes in order to stack them up again.

"No, Charlotte!" Alice answered. "I thought I heard something, and so me and Paul took down some crates and we found this door."

Paul nodded in agreement. Charlotte placed a hand on the door in awe. Emma looked strangely nervous. "Hey, guys? I don't feel good being in here." She said quietly.

Paul walked up to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Well, we're just going to see what's through the door, then we'll get out of here. I promise." He didn't mention how the behaviour was odd for Emma, not wanting to make her even more uncomfortable.

"Wait, we are?" Alice asked with surprise.

Paul smiled. "There's no harm in checking." _I just want to settle my doubts about Ayorka._ He gestured towards the door. "Do you want to do the honours?"

Alice nodded, and cautiously turned the doorknob. The door itself was very stiff though, and she couldn't make it budge.

"It won't move." She said, turning to Paul. "I don't think it's locked, either."

"Here, let me try." Paul replied, taking a few steps back before sprinting up to the little door.

It moved an inch and left Paul with the feeling that he was about to receive a massive bruise on his shoulder.

"I, uh, think it's stuck." Said Paul blankly, rubbing his shoulder and blissfully unaware of how red his face had turned.

Charlotte quietly made her way towards the door and began to fiddle with the knob. She pushed it, pulled it, and even twisted it both ways. Nothing happened.

Emma cringed at the attempt. "Hey, Charlotte? I don't think that's help-" The door swung wide open with a click. "-ing. Uh, well done."

Charlotte smiled triumphantly, an expression that she rarely wore.

The group all huddled around the door, in order to see what was inside. None of them were expecting what they saw.

A narrow flight of stone steps leading underground to an area dimly lit by a couple of flaming torches hung on the stone walls at the bottom. They all let out varying exclamations of shock.

"Hey, is that blood?" Asked Emma, pointing down to the steps nearest to them.

Paul ran a hand through his hair. "I-I think you're right. Oh my word..."

Suddenly a loud, chesty cough echoed against the small stone walls and up to where the group stood.

They all froze in fear, except for Alice who sprinted down the steps without saying another word.

"Alice!" Emma hissed, running after her.

Charlotte looked around nervously, before she too made her way down the dark steps.

Paul remained at the top for a few more moments. If he had bad feelings about Ayorka, then what lay beyond the door felt like certain doom. It felt off. Something that they should not get involved in. Something that he really didn't want to get involved in.

But his friends had already descended the steps, and he could hear that they had all reached the bottom.

Taking a deep breath, he rushed down the stairs in order to catch up with the ladies, who were all jogging along a narrow stone corridor, stained with the both the stench and presence of blood, and following the girl who was far in front of them.

Suddenly, Alice stopped in her tracks, gazing through the thick metal bars that branched off from one of the walls. The determination in her eyes melted into tears.

_"Father..."_


	27. Doubts

Upon seeing Alice's distress Paul pushed himself forwards, each step begging him to stop. To turn around. To get out of there. To get the others out of there.

But he didn't because his eyes locked onto the figure behind the bars and an ungodly sound emerged from his throat.

Bill.

With only a cloth wrapped around his waist for decency, his friend had his arms bound by chains to a metal pole behind him. His frame was far skinnier than before, and his body was littered with scars and scratches of various shapes and sizes. There was even a small patch on one of his bare legs where there was no skin at all. He was seated on the cold stone floor, his head hung low. Paul would have assumed he was dead, if not for the slight movement of his chest whenever he took shaky, shallow breaths.

"Father!" Alice repeated pulling on the bars aggressively. To everyone's surprise, the prison door opened easily. It wasn't locked. Paul felt even more uneasy.

She tumbled into the cell and knelt down next to her father, gently pulling his head into her lap and stroking his hair. "Father, I'm so so sorry, you're safe now, I promise Father."

Bill didn't respond.

Paul cautiously stepped closer to the pair. "Bill, can you hear me?"

Bill didn't move, though his eyes were wide open.

Emma rushed forwards, beckoning for Charlotte. "Here, help me untie him."

The two set to work on each of Bill's wrists which were cuffed to the pole.

Alice continued to rock herself back and forth, still holding her Father's frail body in her arms. She muttered comforting words, and Paul couldn't be certain if they were aimed at Bill or herself.

"I can't believe Ayorka would do this. I trusted him." Emma said angrily as she worked.

Charlotte blew a strand of hair away from her face, before replying: "You mean Ayorka did this?"

Emma nodded. Charlotte felt her heart speed up even more. "Oh, I thought that it was someone else. Ayorka would never do a thing like this! Sure, he can be grumpy but he's not a psychopath!"

Paul moved closer to Emma in order to help her free Bill. "I don't know." He said. "Something always felt off about him, and I wouldn't rule out the possibility that it could be him."

Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed along the corridor, causing everyone to freeze. Emma pressed a finger against her lips, but the others didn't need to be told to stay silent.

The footsteps gradually became louder and louder, and the group all held their breath. He had almost reached them. They were about to be discovered by whoever was responsible for this. They were trapped.

"Holy moly... guys?! What are you doing down here? I thought I was a goner but then bam! You're all here having a party without me! Have you seen all the stuff that's down he- is that Bill?!"

The next sound to be heard in the cell was a symphony of sighs.

Paul stood up to greet his colleague. "Ted, you almost gave us a heart attack. And yes, that's Bill."

Ignoring Paul, Ted took a step closer to the exterior of the cell. "Is he okay?"

Alice turned her head towards at Ted angrily. "Does he look okay?!" She responded.

Ted shook his head. "No, but I-"

"Ted, are you bleeding?" Paul interrupted, pointing towards the back of Ted's head.

Ted rubbed a hand on the back of his head, before pulling it down again. It was covered in blood. "Oh yeah." He said. "That's weird, why don't I feel-"

"Ted, just shut up and come help us." Emma ordered, but Paul raised his had in Ted's defence.

"Emma wait, he's hurt. Also, what did you say about there being stuff?"

Ted rubbed his forehead, leaving a smear of blood on his face. "I don't know, there's just a load of stuff. There's a huge ball of fire down there, and there's more of these prison cell things. I swear I saw skeletons. Also, there's a load more of those eggs."

Paul grimaced. "It must be Ayorka."

Ted shook his head a little too hard, startling Paul. "No, it's not him." He said, staring at Paul with wide eyes. "It can't be. It doesn't make sense."

"That's what I'm saying!" Agreed Emma, still fumbling with the chains. Once Charlotte had finished with her side (she had very nimble fingers) she joined Emma and soon Bill was entirely free from the cell. His body fell forwards into Alice's arms.

Paul and Ted jumped forwards to help support him. Paul cupped his hands around Bill's face. "Bill, can you hear me?"

_"He can't hear you, Paul."_

A startled Paul spun around to see a frighteningly familiar figure standing a few metres away from them. Not taking his eyes off him, he tugged on Emma's sleeve.

Emma turned around. "What?"

Paul pointed a shaky finger at the tall figure. Emma looked in confusion. "Paul, you scared me. It's nothing."

Ayorka grinned. _"They can't see me Paul."_

Paul was confused, and felt the guilt of being a hypocrite. He had shouted at Alice for hallucinating and not being able to tell the difference, when he was just as bad.

Then again, Alice's hallucinations turned out to be real...

Paul decided to ignore him, and turned around in order to help the group carry Bill's body back along the corridor. They passed many strange objects on the way, just as Ted had said.

There were scrolls with various symbols and pictures on the walls, there were podiums with odd items displayed on them. One of these items stood out from the rest. Floating in the air, was a bright ball of flames. Emma was entranced.

"It's so beautiful..." She mumbled, seemingly forgetting about Bill and the others. She reached out and began to walk closer to it.

_"I wouldn't let her touch that if I were you. It will hurt."_

"Emma! Stay away from that thing!" Cried Paul, dropping Bill's arm in order to rush forwards and restrain Emma.

"Let me go!" She cried, struggling against Paul's grip. "I just wanna try something! I think it might be-"

"Shut up!" Alice whispered loudly. "Ayorka will hear us!"

Paul heard a deep chuckle behind him. Ayorka had been following them along the corridor from a short distance.

With his arms still wrapped around Emma's body, he turned to amused man. "Alright, you've had your fun!" He shouted, causing the others to look at Paul in confusion. Even Emma looked up at his angry expression.

"Paul, what are you-"

"Just explain! I know you did this to Bill! And why can't they see you?!"

Ayorka stepped closer to him, and only then could Paul notice the colour of his eyes. Or, more accurately, the lack of colour.

Ayorka's grin only widened. _"I think a better question would be: Why can only you see me?"_

Paul clenched his jaw, deaf to the concerned comments of his friends.

_"It's like I said, Paul. You're the Avatar. Do you know what that means?"_

Paul nodded his head. He hated the teacher-like voice that Ayorka was using. "Yes, I do actually. The Avatar can master all four elements, the Avatar is the bridge between the human world and the spirit wor- wait... oh _no..._ "

"You're getting warmer." Ayorka commented.

Realisation exploded into Paul's eyes. "You're in league with the spirits! The spirits wanted Bill!"

Ayorka's smile faded. _"No- no that's not it, Paul. Try again."_

Paul furrowed his eyebrows. He had been certain that he had come to the right conclusion. Unless... "Oh... oh I get it now..."

Ayorka raised an eyebrow.

" _You're the Avatar!_ That's why you're hiding here and you're trying to blame it on me! Oh, it all makes sense now-"

"NO!" Yelled Ayorka, gripping his hair in frustration. " _You're_ the Avatar! _I'm_ part spirit! This whole place-" he gestured wildly with his hands at the area around them- "is the Spirit World! The entire mountain used to be exclusive to the Spirit world, but my Grandfather found an orb that caused it to morph into reality, so it's stuck somewhere between! Yes, it broke, and _yes_ it was all my fault, but that's irrelevant. What matters is that you're dumb and also happen to be the Avatar, so down here only you can see me, and I can see all of you, got it?!"

Ayorka breathed heavily, before realising what he had said. "Wait-"

"You're not... you didn't make the mountain?" Paul asked quietly.

After regaining his breath back, Ayorka answered: "No."

"Oh- _ow!"_

Paul rubbed his cheek where he had just been slapped for the second time that week.

"Okay I don't know what's going on here, but you need to get a grip on yourself Paul!" Exclaimed Ted.

Paul turned his head to see Ayorka nod his head and mouth: "Go on."

He glared at him and turned back to the rest of the group. "I'm sorry. Just a hallucination. I thought it was Ayorka, but we're good."

Emma looked at him suspiciously. "If you say so. Now come on, the sooner we get Bill out of here, the better."

As if on cue, Bill let out a weak cough and tilted his head upwards, coincidentally towards Alice.

"Wh-who...?" He managed to say before once again falling limp in their arms.

Paul let Bill's outburst sink into his system, before spinning on his heel to shout:  
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO BILL?!"

But Ayorka wasn't there.

Emma groaned in frustration and nodded in Ted's direction. "Here, you get his leg." She said, handing Bill's other leg to an already strained Ted. She was lucky that he didn't complain given the severity of the situation.

"Paul, are you nuts?!" She cried. "Ayorka's gonna be back down here any moment, so now's really not the time to go crazy."

Paul couldn't take his eyes of the space where he had seen Ayorka a few moments ago. Of course, it could still just be a hallucination like he had originally thought. Then again, he would never have been able to come up with the things that Ayorka had said to him.

"Paul!" Emma repeated. "Snap out of it!"

He shook his head and turned away from Emma guiltily. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. It's just-"

He stopped abruptly when he caught a glimpse of a flash of blue further down the corridor.

"What?" Emma prompted. "It's just what?"

"I'm sorry, Emma." Paul said suddenly, before jogging through the darkness towards what he desperately hoped wasn't what he thought it was.  
"Paul!" Emma shouted with exasperation, before following closely behind the man.

They both stopped when they reached something that made their stomachs churn.

For there were what appeared to be more prison cells, except these ones had bars that were arranged much closer together, and were crowded with sickeningly familiar creatures.

Some took the form of giant blue beetles, scuttling on the stone and only just being prevented from leaving by the cell door.

Others took the form of lithe grey snakes, curled on the ground with their scales shimmering with an azure tint.

There were even some kept in small tanks that took the form of large navy eels, twisting menacingly in the limited space that they had.

And there were few, very few, that looked akin to small monkeys with large, blue bat-like wings protruding from their backs.

In a separate cell was one of such creatures. One that had a long gash on its back that contained a dried blue substance. A substance that they had all come to recognise easily, after hours of searching for it on the forest floor. Blood.

Paul and Emma stood there, mouths gaping open, for a few moments that felt like an eternity. They both understood full well what the implications of the scene in front of them were, but neither wanted to say them out loud. All they knew was that they had been in grave danger ever since they had set foot on the mountain that they had originally thought was the safest place to go.

Paul clutched Emma's hand tightly. "We need to go."

"Yeah." Emma agreed, tearing her eyes away from the creatures and graciously gripping Paul's hand and the pair ran off to join the others as soon as they possibly could.

They needed to get off the mountain.


	28. Unwanted Answers

As Charlotte, Ted and Alice all had to carry Bill, they were only just nearing the steps that would grant them their exit. It didn't take Paul and Emma too long to catch up.

"Finally!" Ted moaned through gritted teeth. "Give us a hand, will ya? I don't know how we're gonna get up those steps."

Paul shook his head in order to buy some time to regain his breath and looked at the others with wide eyes.

"Listen, Ayorka's part of this. Over there he's got tons of those monster things and even the one that got Bill. We've gotta get out of here without him seeing."

_"Good plan."_

The group looked up to see Ayorka standing at the top of the stairs, illuminated by the light from his room behind him. His eyes were a dark blue and shone with triumph and amusement.

"Might be a little late for that, Paul." Ted quipped in a voice that was unnaturally high for him.

"Wait, you can see him?" Asked Paul, fear dominating his own voice.

"Why wouldn't he, Paul?" Ayorka taunted. "I'm not a spirit coming to haunt you."

Paul knew exactly what Ayorka meant. Ayorka knew that Paul knew exactly what he meant. Paul knew that Ayorka knew that Paul knew exactly what he meant. Neither of them said anything about it though.

"What did you do to my father?" Alice asked firmly, her eyes blazing with fury.

Ayorka matched her gaze. "I didn't know he was your father, yet I still saved his life." He stated, causing Emma to scoff.

"You saved his life? Look at him!" Emma gestured towards the unconscious man. "You call that saving his life?!"

Ayorka nodded with oblivious innocence. "Yes. The Myrok would have surely torn him apart or used his body as a host. I took him in, fed him, cared for him-"

"Cared for him?!" Paul interrupted. "You kept him in a cell! You fed him the bare minimum! You treated him like... like he was some sort of animal!"

"Tell me Paul, how do you treat the animals on the farm?" Ayorka asked angrily. "I look after all humans in precisely the same way. They're only kept down here because they are dangerous!"

"B-But Ayorka," Charlotte said hesitantly, "would you want to be treated that way? As a fellow human being-"

"I'm not human."

Ayorka's deep voice made the heavy statement resonate through the walls, silencing them all. Ayorka had the high ground, and they were trapped.

Paul couldn't help but glare at the man. He had always had doubts and suspicions about Ayorka which he'd only recently put aside. The others had placed a blind trust in him that Paul thought he should match. He hated being right.

"That's it." Emma said suddenly, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "You wanna fight? I'll give you a fight."

Emma took her fighting stance (something she had learned in school that was a useful trick against bullies) and charged up the steps towards the half-spirit, who refused to move a single inch.

She thrust her hands forwards, praying for it to work. All she needed was one flame. It didn't have to be huge, just one big enough to burn the amused grin right off the old man's smug young face.

Not even a spark.

Ayorka let out a deep unnerving chuckle that evolved into a terrifying belly laugh. Emma watched, petrified, just inches away.

He stopped abruptly and leaned towards Emma. "You can't do a thing without me."

Emma shivered under Ayorka's piercing gaze. "What do you mean?" She asked, fearful of the answer that was going to follow.

"I mean," He continued, gently pushing her backwards, "that because I saved your life, you owed me a great debt. I saved you a job and payed it on your behalf."

Emma stumbled back down the steps, allowing for Paul to catch her and pull her close. He looked up at Ayorka in confusion. "What do you mean? You saved all our lives." He said.

Ayorka opened his mouth to answer, but Emma spoke first. "No, he's right. He did save my life."

Paul turned to Emma in disbelief. "Emma..?"

"I had a spike stuck in my neck from one of those monsters... wait-" Her eyes widened with realisation and she glared at Ayorka with hatred- "but they were yours! Those monsters they- they were yours the whole time! You were the one who started this entire thing! You-"

"No." Ayorka said, silencing Emma. Paul noticed how his voice shook ever so slightly. "They are not mine. They are their own beings and..."

He trailed off and appeared to scowl at the group, but for one very brief moment his pleading eyes flashed brown. Not a vibrant brown, but a dull brown. A natural brown.

"...and, if anything, I belong to them."

The way he finished his sentence was uncharacteristically quiet, but Emma didn't pick up on it. "Just let us go, okay?"

Ayorka's eyes faded to brown again. "Okay."

The group looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

"So that's it? You're just gonna let us go like that and pretend nothing happened?" Ted asked with suspicion. Ayorka nodded.

"If you're going to go, just go now. Take what you need. Be quick."

Nobody moved until Ayorka physically stepped aside, prompting Ted to run up the stairs gesturing for the others to follow. "Come on! I don't know what's happening but let's just do as he says. You guys bring Bill, I'll get the stuff."

Using teamwork, it didn't take long for the group to haul Bill's body up the steps and out of the hut. It also took Ted a surprisingly short amount of time to return with bags filled with supplies ("I just grabbed what I could find.")

"Uh, okay, what now?" Asked Paul, looking around the area to make sure that Ayorka hadn't followed. For some reason, he hadn't.

"I'm sorry Paul, but I don't think we can carry poor Bill all the way down the mountain, let alone through the forest." Said Charlotte.

"Yeah," Emma agreed, "unless we can find some way to carry him we've got no chance."

"Uh," Said Paul, spinning around to try and find a solution. As he surveyed the area he felt his heart tighten. He'd grown close to all of the creatures on the farm, and he hated to leave without saying goodbye to each individual one. Instinctively, his eyes settled on his favourite pen which happened to be closest to the hut.

Yibble.

"Just hold on," he said, "I've got an idea!"

Leaving Ted to take control of Bill's right leg, Paul sprinted back towards the hut to where Yibble was huddled asleep in her pen, blissfully unaware of the drama around her.

He stroked her head gently. "Yibble, girl, time to get up now. Paul needs your help."

Yibble slowly opened her eyes and stood on her feet, before noticing Paul and letting out a small noise of excitement."That's it." Paul cooed, opening the gate. "Come on, girl."

He led her back to the others, even though she seemed nervous to be so far away from her pen. "You're strong aren't you?" He asked softly. "Do you think you can carry my friend for me?"

Before Paul could ask another rhetorical question, Charlotte stepped in. "Paul, wait. She's going to have to carry him for a long time. Let's wait until we get to the bottom of the mountain. Once we get the edge of the forest, we can load her."

As much as the group felt strained, they all agreed with Charlotte's idea. So collectively they began to carefully carry Bill down the hill.

They had reached halfway when they heard a deafening scream coming from the hut above them, scaring the other animals and causing Xalior (Ayorka's faithful pet flying lemur) to scramble down the hill after them.

"We've got to keep moving." Emma instructed, so the group continued with their task, only semi-aware of the man racing after them.

Once they had finally reached the bottom, Ayorka had caught up with them. He stood a few metres above them, his eyes a bright blue.

"Stop!" He cried. "You're trapped. Climb back up now and you'll be alright, I promise I'll look after you."

Paul stared up at the visibly insane man. "B-But you said you'd let us go!" He shouted back.

Ayorka froze, letting Paul carry on. "And the forest is right there! We're not trapped!"

Snapping out of his apparent trance, Ayorka made a strange motion with his hands. Suddenly, the trees at the perimeter of the mountain began to sway dangerously to one side, many falling over and blocking the various routes they could have taken. The sudden strong winds caused the group to lose balance, and Alice even fell over but quickly picked herself back up again.

"Like I said," Ayorka continued, his voice carrying strangely well in the gale. "You're trapped."

"Oh yeah?" Emma yelled, dropping Bill's arm and running back up the hill to reach Ayorka. "Well are we trapped now?!"

She swung her leg in his direction but, unsurprisingly, nothing happened.

"DAMMIT!" She screamed, using her other leg to directly kick Ayorka in the stomach, causing him to fall backwards.

She stood over him, flames blazing in her eyes. "What did you do to me?!"

With his back on the ground, Ayorka smirked. "I'm in control, Emma."

Without warning, a burst of fire sprouted from Emma's hand that was hanging at her side, lightly burning her leg.

Emma bit her tongue and managed to stop herself from screaming. She glared at him with tears in her eyes, deaf to her friends' concerned calls below. "And what about the trees, huh? You in control of an airbender too?"

Ayorka let out a dry chuckle and Emma kicked his ribs. He rolled over to his side in pain, and Emma saw a hint of blue under his now muddy, grey hair. A tattoo.

"You _are_ an airbender..."

The truth shocked her. Airbenders were treated like royalty, having all being descendants of Avatar Aang. So the identity of every single airbender was common knowledge. And yet here was Ayorka (which wasn't even his real name, as they were the ones to give it to him) writhing on the ground bearing the tattoos of an airbender. The owner of a flying bison and lemur in pain under her feet. She should have felt guilty, but she didn't. And apparently he was a spirit? It made no sense to her.

Still bewildered, she didn't stop him when he slowly got back onto his feet. Luckily, she did see some sense and ran. The trees had stopped moving, and there were some gaps between the damage. At least they had some means of escape.

They started to make their way into the trees, but they were stopped by a gruff voice from behind them.

"Wait!"

They decided not to heed his words and were about to continue, but Ayorka called out again: "Ted, you're going to die!"

Ted spun around immediately. "What?"

"Do you not remember?" Ayorka asked, taking cautious steps towards the group. "You were cutting trees. I swept you off your feet. You hit your head."

Ted pressed a hand against the back of his head, and when he pulled it off it contained a large clump of dried blood. "Why didn't I feel that? Did you do something to me too?!"

Ayorka locked eyes with Ted. "I saved your life."

"YOU DID NOT SAVE HIS LIFE!" Emma cried angrily. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!"

"I injected him with my blood! Spirit blood!" Ayorka called with an equal amount of anger. "It has just enough healing properties that it keeps him alive!"

"Then why did you say I was gonna die?" Asked Ted.

"Because it only works on the mountain!" Ayorka babbled. "I made a stupid mistake lifetimes ago! The mountain is locked in a place which is neither in the spirit world nor your world! And because of that mistake I'm trapped here too, and so is my blood!"

Paul noticed how Ayorka had stopped following them at a certain point, refusing to take a step further.

"So Ted, if you leave this area, you're going to bleed to death and I do not want that weighing on my conscience for eternity! You can stay here with me and live just as you were doing, or you can leave and die by sunset."

Everyone fell silent. Even Xalior (who had been riding on Yibble's back) stopped chattering. Paul turned to his old housemate. "It's your choice."

Ted just stared at Ayorka with his mouth gaping open. The cogs in his brain tried to whir, but they were fixed in place. All time seemed to stop around him. Only then did he feel his skull pounding. He turned to the group, then looked back at Ayorka. "Like Hell I'm staying here."

Without turning back, he stormed towards the forest. "Come on, guys. I just wanna get out of here."

The group followed behind, slowed by the weight of Bill's body.

"You'll die!" Ayorka called after them. "You'll die and don't you come crawling back to me because I warned you! Don't you-"

Paul turned his head at Ayorka's sudden silence and was shocked to find the immortal man on his knees, looking straight past him.

"Xalior." Ayorka murmured, his head hung low. "Please come back."

Obediently the little lemur bounced off Yibble and rushed towards Ayorka, perching on the man's shoulder.

"Yibble, please come back."

Yibble looked at Paul as if to ask for permission. Paul shook his head. "No girl, you're staying with me now."

Ayorka seemed stunned by Yibble's response. "Yibble," he repeated, "please."

Paul firmly gripped Yibble's fur. She whimpered. "No, Yibble."

"Paul,"

Paul looked up to see Ayorka back on his feet, and his eyes were that natural dull brown again. But what surprised Paul the most was that they were glimmering with tears.

"You're taking everything from me. All of my humans, what remains of my sanity... but I beg you-" his voice cracked- "don't take Yibble. She's my girl, she's the only thing left to connect me to my roots, I've raised her for all her life, she's..."

Yibble struggled against Paul's grip, and Ayorka himself winced. "...she's _my_ girl."

Paul looked between Yibble and the man, and then at Bill. Reluctantly he let go of Yibble's long, soft tanned fur.

"I think we should let her decide."

Yibble looked at Paul and walked closer to him. She shuffled against his body lovingly.

Paul smiled with relief. "Yibble, you-"

She pulled away from Paul, and began to gradually make her way back to Ayorka, who's pale face began to beam with pride.

Once she reached him, he pulled her close and bent down, allowing her to lick his face. He looked at Paul graciously. "Thank you, Paul."

The heartbroken Paul didn't reply. He pulled Bill onto his own back and, taking one last look at the delighted Ayorka and happy Yibble, he turned around and joined the others and together they began to make their way into the depths of Halka forest once again.


	29. The Nameless Spirit

He locked himself back into routine. He had spent too long with help from others that he had almost forgotten how taxing it was to care for so many beings whilst also making progress. The animals were easy, he had been doing that for almost a century. The Myrok, on the other hand...

Previously confined to the night, he found himself pacing down the damned dark stone corridor for many hours of the day. Xalior was his constant companion, but even he could not walk for that long. Yibble too would follow his footsteps but she was scared of the dark and hated the stench of blood, so retreated back into her paddock. So he was left alone to pace.

He soon realised that he didn't like the pacing.

For pacing hurt. For the first few hours while he was on his feet, it helped him to think. However, as soon as he fell onto his hands and knees and the blood began to emerge from his scarred skin, the pain overpowered his thoughts and he was left with no purpose but to carry on.

He had no choice.

After such a close encounter with a group of humans, the colony of Myrok had decided that they wanted more. The beetles began to claw at the ground beneath them. The snakes began to slither up and down the bars, desperate to escape. The monkeys began to screech for hours on end, and the eels pushed against their tanks, anxious for release.

They knew that he could let them out at any moment, but still they wanted him to pace.

One particular day, it changed its mind. Instead of the pacing that had put him into constant agony, it decided to dig out an old book, upon which a few names were scribbled in his untidy scrawl.

The names of people who had tried to help him. To save him. Yet _it_ didn't let them.

For a brief moment he contemplating adding the name "Bill" to the list, but he ultimately decided against it.

Or did _it_ decide? It had been so long since he could have been certain.

Whoever was in control, it really didn't matter anymore. He had completely destroyed the perimeter of forest surrounding the mountain so there would be no more travellers. No more hope.

... _it_ must have realised that too.

Before he properly understood, he found himself standing outside the cell containing _its_ cursed creatures, reaching to unlock it.

They immediately scuttled, slithered, scampered and slid towards him. It took all of _his_ willpower just to close his eyes.

One particularly large beetle crawled up his front and latched onto his chest, its pincers digging deep into his torso. He screamed as he was forced to lean backwards, where a lean monkey-like creature dug its claws into his shoulders and stretched itself along the length of his back. A long blue snake curled itself around his waist just as a spiny eel did the same with his throat, causing the scream to subside.

He stood there, an amalgamation of beings, and breathed unstable breaths.

For the first time in his entire long life, Xalior ran away from him.

He could feel his eyes burning, so he stumbled up the steps to find the mirror in his room. His eyes were a deep black and his pupils a bright, glowing blue.

_He_ had been completely erased. _It_ was now free from his spiritual restraints keeping him from leaving the mountain.

Feeling the grey dust cling to its skin, the burning sensation in its hair, the water gathering in its mouth and its feet floating inches off the ground, _it_ now knew what it had to do.


	30. Growing Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick(ish) summary of the plot so far:  
> \- Paul, Bill, Charlotte and Ted all worked on a farm near Hatchetfield City  
> \- Paul went into Hatchetfield and met Emma who told him about the legend of Ayorka  
> \- The next morning he went back to Hatchetfield only to find it full of strange eggs  
> \- The eggs hatched into creatures which tried to drown Emma, Paul unknowingly saved her  
> \- The creatures attached themselves onto the people of Hatchetfield, Paul and Emma escaped  
> \- Emma got a spine stuck in her neck  
> \- The group met at the farm but were confronted by Sam, Charlotte's husband  
> \- Paul unknowingly saved the group from Sam  
> \- They decided to look for the legendary mountain of Ayorka in Halka forest  
> \- Bill was taken away by one of the creatures  
> \- The remaining found the mountain and met a strange immortal man who they named "Ayorka"  
> \- Ayorka gave them food and shelter  
> \- Paul and Emma started a relationship  
> \- Ayorka took the spine out of Emma's neck and took control of her firebending  
> \- Ayorka told Paul he was Avatar, Paul didn't believe him  
> \- Alice found Bill hidden under Ayorka's hut  
> \- The group discovered that Ayorka is an airbender that is part-spirit and is in league with the creatures  
> \- Ayorka hurt Ted's head and injected him with his spirit blood as medicine which only takes effect on the mountain  
> \- The group escaped back to the forest with an unconscious Bill

It was strange how they somehow ended up in the same situation as before, except this time they were all carrying various injuries and traumas.

Bill was slipping in and out of consciousness and was frail and bruised. Ted had a large open wound on the back of his head which, like Ted himself, was extremely stubborn and refused to stop bleeding no matter how much pressure he put onto it. Emma's right leg had a long light burn stretching down it, and she couldn't hide her limp as she hobbled along. Both Charlotte and Alice were emotionally distraught, Alice with the worry for her father, and Charlotte with her newly-found fear of trusting people.

Sometimes Paul felt like the only sane, able-bodied person in the group. But then every now and again someone would remind him that he was the Avatar, and he can't really remember what happened after that. He just remembered feeling very warm all of a sudden.

There was a debate in the group as to whether the stay with Ayorka had benefited them at all. Emma was strongly against the idea, and used the evidence of everyone's injuries, including Ted's predicted death and her struggle to firebend.

Alice fought for the opposite, claiming that without Ayorka they would have ran out of supplies and would have never found Bill. Some people were just worth losing everything for.

They had walked for two days straight, just until they couldn't carry Bill anymore. So, in a routine that was seared into the backs of their minds, they set up a small camp.

Once they had all eaten (Ted had managed to pack a lot) none of them felt especially tired, so they all gathered around the fire that they had to make manually for a change.

"Um, Charlotte?" Alice asked timidly when the others were all engaged in a loud conversation. "Did you ever watch Father heal?"

Charlotte shuffled closer to the girl, and looked her in the eye. "Yes, I did. But I'm sorry Alice dear, I'm nowhere as skilled as your Father and I definitely can't do anything without hurting him."

"Oh." Alice visibly deflated.

"Did you ever watch him heal?" Charlotte asked, hoping to distract her.

Charlotte was certain that she could see a small smile behind the locks of dark hair that hid Alice's face. "All the time." She replied, brushing the strands away. "It looked really complicated when I was little."

"It isn't _that_ difficult if you can do it naturally." Said Charlotte. "I think you can either do it or you can't, almost like a talent. Why, I bet that you could do it!" Her voice dropped down to a whisper. "If only we had some healing water..."

"We do have some!" Alice exclaimed suddenly, causing the rest of the group to turn to her in surprise. "Father always made me carry some in my pocket, for emergencies!"

She reached into the front pocket of her lilac robe, and pulled out a tiny vial attached to a locket. She brandished it with pride and presented it to Charlotte.

Charlotte wanted to mirror the girl's excitement, but knew that the few drops of water that Alice had were nowhere near enough to heal someone. Her sadness did not go unnoticed to Alice, who's face sank into an anxious frown. "What's wrong?"

Charlotte cupped her hands around Alice's which were still tightly gripping the vial. "I'm sorry." She said. "That's not enough to go around his entire body. The only way that would work was if-"

She cut herself off abruptly. Alice leaned forwards. "Was if what?" She prompted.

Charlotte shook her head. "Nothing," She whispered.

Alice pulled her hands away from Charlotte. "No, if there's any way to save my Father, you're going to say it." She realised how demanding she sounded, so she entwined her fingers with Charlotte's. "Charlotte, _please-"_

Charlotte nodded and let out a shaky breath. "Th-The only way you could do it was if-" she inhaled slowly- "was if someone b-bloodbent it around his body."

"I'll do it." Alice stated without missing a beat.

Charlotte physically moved towards Alice to grip her by the shoulders. "N-No, Alice! Are you crazy? Do you realise how dangerous it is, especially for someone so young? They say if you don't end up killing someone, then you end up hurting yourself. Bloodbenders a-are monsters Alice and I forbid you from even thinking about it."

Alice forced her eyes away from Charlotte and instead looked at the body of her father lying next to the fire. "It's a good thing you're not my mother, then." She said, before standing up and pulling the cork out of the little vial.

"Hey, hey, Alice what are you doing?" Paul asked, jumping to his feet just as Alice knelt down next to Bill.

She looked up at him in anger, with tears gathering in her eyes. "You're the Avatar!" She cried. "You didn't do anything for thirty damn years and even when you do find out you can't even save your best friend!"

Paul looked at Charlotte in confusion, but she was holding her head in her hands and muttering to herself. He then slowly began to approach Alice. 

"Alice, hey, I'm sorry, okay? You're right. I should have done more-"  
"Stay away from me, Paul."  
"-and I promise we'll find a way to help Bill. But right now you need to- _argh"_

Paul felt his limbs tense suddenly. He tried to move, but found he was powerless. It was as if his body had been clenched. He managed to move his pupils to Alice's hands, which were clawed and outstretched towards him.

His eyes darted to Emma, who stood up in shock. "What did you do?!" She yelled running towards Paul, who's face was beginning to turn purple.

"He can't breathe! Alice, whatever you're doing, stop! You're killing him!"

Like a puppet being cut from a string, Paul fell to the ground suddenly, spluttering and wheezing. He forced his head up towards the girl who was shaking where she sat. 

"I-It works." She said. "I can... bloodbend."

She jumped when she felt gentle hands press firmly onto her shoulders. "That's enough. You only did it once and you're already overwhelmed. No more."

Alice brushed Charlotte's hands off her figure and crawled closer to Bill.

"Alice, _no-"_

Using one hand to open his jaw and the other to hold the vial, she poured its contents into her father's mouth. She then waited a few moments to allow it to travel down his throat, before she began her work.

Just as she did to Paul, she found the luscious water in his blood and began to manoeuvre it around his body at a rapid rate. The others just watched in horror as they heard the liquid slush inside their friend's body. She circulated the blood all around her father's body, until Charlotte had enough. She snuck up behind Alice and suddenly gripped her by the waist and pulled her backwards. In shock, Alice let go of her hold on Alice's body and found herself lying on her back, staring up at the full moon above her.

"You stupid girl!" Charlotte shouted, tears streaming down her face. "Do you have any idea what you-"  
She was interrupted by a chesty cough coming from beside her.

"Alice?"

A sudden silence fell over the group as they turned to face the waking Bill.

"Father!"

Acting as if nothing had happened, Alice pulled Bill into a loving embrace and began to sob quietly into his shoulder. The others watched in both relief and growing concern.

To everyone's shock, Bill began to struggle against Alice's grip.

"Wh-Where am I?" He whimpered, slowly taking in his surroundings. "Where is _he?"_

Paul cautiously stepped forward, trying his best to keep his gaze away from Alice. "You're safe from Ayorka in the forest with us."

Bill's head snapped towards Paul in confusion. "Who?" He asked innocently.

"Oh uh... tall, grey hair, young face, weird eyes- just weird, really-"

"N-No!" Cried Bill suddenly. "No, Paul, you don't understand. He... he _saved_ me."

Emma let out a sound of frustration. "He didn't save you, we did. He was the one you needed saving from. Look at yourself, he's the one who did this."

Bill shook his head stubbornly. "No, he did save me. And... oh _no-"_ His eyes widened- "I promised I would save him."

He glared at Paul with fear shimmering in his eyes. "What did you do to him?" He asked.

"Nothing!" Answered Paul. "We didn't do anything to him, I promise."

"Stop promising things Paul."

Paul turned his head to see Alice glaring at him with dark, piercing eyes. He gulped. Luckily for him, she moved her focus away from him and onto Bill instead.

"Father, it's me, Alice. Aren't you happy to see us? We rescued you! Ayorka, that man, he locked you up and when I saw you I-"

"See, he did save me!" Bill proclaimed.

"B-But Bill, he chained you to a wall," Charlotte said, "like a prisoner."

"No, not a prisoner." He faced Charlotte firmly. "He saved me from himself."

"Hey uh, guys?" Emma interrupted, stepping closer to the fire. "Now that Bill's awake we should really get a move on. If we can find the edge of the forest again then we should be able to get to Clivesdale in a few days. I mean it is the closest city right now."

"Emma's right. We can't risk staying here too long, and we don't want those things to come back." Paul added. "Bill, are you alright to walk?"

Bill nodded before his stomach let out a low growl. He smiled awkwardly. "Can I grab something to eat first?"

"I'll go get you something." Alice replied instantly, jumping to her feet and rushing off towards the large bag of supplies.

Emma watched her go and then let out a loud yawn. She desperately needed sleep, but making progress was far more important. She walked around to the far side of the fire and frowned at Ted who was asleep on a particularly long log.

She kicked it, causing it to wobble. "Get up idiot, we're moving." She said bluntly.

Ted didn't move.

Emma's frown stretched even further down her face. "Hey, I'm talking to you."

She kicked the log even harder, this time forcing Ted to roll completely off it onto the side furthest away from her.

She sighed, clearly not amused, and stepped over the log to yell at Ted once more. "Lazy ba-"

Then she noticed the blood.


	31. A Stern Warning

A pool of crimson had formed underneath Ted's head and had left a gleaming trail on the log.

Emma sucked in a breath and crouched down and prodded the man gently in the ribs. "Ted..?"

No response. She prodded harder. "Ted!"

To her immense relief, he let out a loud groan. However it was short lived as that was the only thing he did.

"Paul!" Emma called desperately.

Paul looked at Emma for a moment, but then noticed Ted lying on the ground. He hopped over the logs and around the fire to reach them. "What happened?!" He asked with the others coming to his side.

"I don't know!" Pleaded Emma. "I just came to wake him up and I saw all this blood!"

Paul ran a hand through his hair. "Uhhh, okay, um..."

"We've got to get him back to that mountain." Charlotte suggested suddenly. "Ayorka said he'd be okay there, right?"

Ted groaned again.

"No, we're not going back there." Emma said firmly. "We could find him a good healer in Clivesdale, I think that's our best option now."

"Bill's a healer!" Announced Paul, turning to his friend who was still extremely dazed and disorientated. "Bill, do you think you can help Ted?"

Bill blinked a few times. "I... uh... I'm sorry, Paul, I don't think I can. The, uh, wound looks quite old and look at all the blood he's lost already."

"So, Clivesdale then?" Emma repeated.

Bill shook his head. "He doesn't have long, he won't last until then. Unless there are some sort of instructions I could use then I have no idea-"

"W-Wait a minute!" Said Charlotte. "Ted packed a few odd books and scroll in the supply bag, maybe there's some instructions in there?"

"Good idea!" Cried Paul. "I'll go check!"

He raced back over the obstacle course of a campsite, thrust his hands into the large supply bag, and began to fish around for anything that could help them.

"Why bother?" Said Alice quietly. "All he did was insult us and slow us down. It would be a lot easier just to let him die." Everyone looked at her nervously after her uncharacteristic statement. "Think about it. He eats most of the food, he doesn't help at all, and now we've got to be responsible for him? It's only fair that he pays for it."

"Found it!" Announced Paul, finally cracking the wall of tension that Alice had built around them. He jogged around the fire with a small leather-bound book held tightly in his hand. He flicked it open and began to skim over the pages.

"Um... harvest notes, sketches- hey that's Yi-"

He cut himself off and cleared his throat a little too loudly.

"Stuff about colours, something about "The Myrok" (whatever the Hell that is), and... is that blood? Uhh... here! Healing!" He licked his thumb and placed it firmly onto a page. "It says right here!"

"Well, tell us then!" Demanded Emma impatiently.

"Right, uh-" he squinted his eyes to read Ayorka's messy scrawl- "If a wound cannot be healed by spirit blood, bind it with something of spiritual value."

"Well, what does that mean?" Asked Charlotte.

"I think we need to bandage his head with something from the spirit world." Answered Bill.

"Isn't all of Ayorka's stuff technically from the spirit world?" Pondered Emma. "He's like a spirit, right?"

"That might work!" Paul grinned with excitement. "I saw some of Ayorka's clothes in the bag, we can always use that."

"Let me do it." Said Charlotte before she rummaged through the large bag and pulled out what appeared to be some sort of yellow robe. She folded it neatly and walked up to Ted, who hadn't moved. "Here you go darling." She mumbled as she gently lifted his head and began to wrap the fabric around it.

The rest of the group watched in fear and anticipation as Charlotte leaned back after completing her task.

"Ow." 

It only took a few seconds before Ted's eyes flickered open and everyone let out sounds of happiness. Everyone apart from Alice, that is, who observed with a look of disgust.

"Ted!" Cried Charlotte, throwing herself over Ted's body in some sort of a hug. "Oh Ted, are you alright?"

"Ugh, feels like someone's been kicking my head for an hour."

Bill smiled. "Believe it or not, I missed you."

"Woah, Bill? You're awake?!" Ted asked in surprise.

"It says here this is only a temporary fix." Paul whispered into Emma's ear while the others were distracted. "We've got to get to Clivesdale fast."

Emma nodded in understanding. "Guys? We really need to leave now. Ted, are you okay to walk to Clivesdale?"

"Would you carry me if I said no?"

"No."

"Then yeah, I guess so." Ted answered reluctantly.

It didn't take too long for the group to finish packing up and prepare for their walk. They would be able to move much faster with Bill awake and back on his feet, even though Ted's pace was much slower.

The group walked in a slightly different order than usual. Paul and Emma started first and still led the party. Ted came next, with Bill following closely after him.  
Alice was about to jog towards her father to join him, when she felt a firm tap on her shoulder. She spun around to see Charlotte with a stern look on her face.

"Alice, we need to talk."

Alice turned to glare at Charlotte. "Can we do this later? Let me go spend time with Father!" She protested.

"No, we can't." Charlotte replied, causing Alice to groan. She waited until the others were a good distance in front of them, before she began go walk and beckoned Alice to follow her.

"What were you thinking?!" She cried once she was certain that they were out of earshot. "Bloodbending? Alice, you know that it's illegal a-and dangerous!" Alice opened her mouth to retort, but Charlotte didn't let her. "And what's with your new attitude all of a sudden? You wanted a man dead!"

"I don't like Ted." Alice said quietly, her eyes glued to the ground.

"That's no excuse." Charlotte stated, her tone softening as she noticed Alice's sudden change in personality. The defiant, bloodbending monster had become the shy, sweet young girl that Charlotte was familiar with.

"I'm sorry." Said Alice, breaking the silence between them, her eyes zooming up to face Charlotte.

Charlotte gave a small smile. "That's okay, but-"

"I don't know what happened." Alice continued. "I just... I felt so angry and I wanted to help Father! I didn't mean to hurt Paul and the things I said... I-I don't know why..." Her gleaming eyes welled up with genuine tears of regret.

Charlotte sighed and pulled the girl in for a warm hug. "There there, that's alright." She soothed, running her fingers through Alice's long hair gently. "You realised that it was wrong, and that's all that matters. For a moment I was scared you were going to-"

"It just felt so _good!"_ Alice sobbed into Charlotte's neck. "I felt so powerful and strong, and oh, I can't explain how amazing it felt to be in control of someone's body!"

Charlotte froze. Her hand began to shake so she cautiously untangled her fingers from Alice's locks and slowly pulled her hand back to her side.

She looked the girl in the eyes, her comforting smile beginning to waver. Yes, Alice's eyes were filled with tears of regret, but they also held something else. A glimmer that made Charlotte just want to turn and run.

But she must be mistaken. This was sweet, innocent Alice, the girl who used to love to come and help her father work on the farm. This was the Alice who used to run up into her arms, calling "Auntie Charlotte!" every time she saw her. This was Bill's daughter.

"Let's go, Alice." She instructed, walking quickly towards the others who had stopped in order to wait for them.

Alice nodded and followed, but the newfound confidence in her stride did not go unnoticed by Charlotte. From the corner of her eye she noticed the full moon shrouded by the dark clouds and broad trees above them.

She could only pray that it was a phase.


	32. Not Again

It only took them a few days to once again reach the opposite edge of the extensive forest, which was probably due to the fact that they were no longer in search of a mountain from another plane of existence. It was clear how easy it was to walk through the forest and never be aware of Ayorka and the insane man that lived there.

Luckily this time they managed to avoid an encounter with any of the creatures. The last thing they wanted was a repeat of the Bill situation.

However now they had a Ted situation. Three of the six of them knew the way to Clivesdale, so one extra day was all it took for them to be standing, relieved, outside the city walls.

"Wow, it's been so long since I've been here..." Paul marvelled to himself in awe, in the hope that Emma would hear. "Last time I was here was for my brother's wedding."

"Wait, you have a brother?" Emma asked in genuine surprise.

"Yeah..." Paul replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't mention him before? We're not on the best of terms right now. Haven't been for a while, really."

"Oh." Said Emma. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

She couldn't understand how siblings could tear each other apart. Although she and her sister could never have been described as the best of friends, they were still there for each other when they needed them the most. What she wouldn't give to have her sister back.

That being said, her father had the same mentality, and he did end up giving everything he had. His life.

She felt a newfound hatred for Ayorka begin to brew in her gut.

"The coast is clear!" Called Alice, running back to where she had left the others. "Everyone here is normal and there's not an egg in sight!"

"Good." Said Charlotte, straightening her back to allow Ted to wrap his arm around it. She had been his support on their travels; he seemed to be losing energy and willpower with every step.

"Clivesdale's pretty modern, so the nearest hospital should be close by." Emma said once they had begun walking into the city.

Her look of disdain caught Paul's eye. He pulled her aside.

"What's the matter?" He asked with concern. "Is it your leg? We can always get that properly checked too."

Emma waved off his worry. "No, it's not that."

She let out a deep sigh. "I used to come here when my sister needed me for help. Sometimes she'd need to rant about her marriage, sometimes it was because she needed a babysitter- I was her last resort, of course. It just feels weird to be here and not get to see her."

Paul laughed uncomfortably. "Siblings, eh?"

He tried to think of something reassuring to say, and his cheeks began to warm as he did so. "Hey, uh, at least you've got me now?" He said with an optimistic smile.

Emma laughed. "Yeah, I guess I do. Lucky me."

Paul chuckled awkwardly.

"Paul?!" Charlotte exclaimed suddenly from in front of them.

Paul promptly ran up to catch up with her. "What? What's wrong?!"

She gestured to the unconscious Ted slumped on her shoulder, causing her to struggle underneath his weight. "It's happened again!"

Together, they had managed to haul Ted to the nearest hospital in the hopes that a healer would be there. Paul wished he could say that it was a joint effort, but he felt like he was the one who had to bear most of the weight. Either that or Ted was just insanely heavy.

They (Paul) dragged the unconscious man into the building while Emma ran up front demanding for a someone to tend to him immediately.

Paul didn't feel the need to rush. After all, one bleeding Ted was much lighter than two huge bags of oats.

"What's all this?!" A young man yelled as he stormed into the waiting room.

"I'm sorry, do you want me to write an essay about why you should treat the man that's currently bleeding to death on your floor?!" Retaliated Emma, causing the man's face to flush.

The man gritted his teeth and walked angrily towards Emma. "Excuse me?!"

"Adam, what's going on here?"

Everyone turned to see an older woman dressed in traditional robes limp out of one of the rooms. Her wrinkled features were calm and she held a tired look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Mother, it's just that these people just strolled in here unannounced! And this woman threatened me!" The young man pleaded, but his mother shook her head disapprovingly.

"Now now, I'm sure there must be a good reason for this." The woman said before turning to the group with a kind smile, silently prompting them to explain.

"Um, yeah. Our friend hurt his head and we were wondering if we could find a healer to fix it." Said Paul awkwardly.

Nobody noticed the quiet tears streaming down Charlotte's face.

"How hurt?" The woman asked, limping further towards Ted.

"...his head split open." Paul answered.

The woman's eyes widened in shock as she crouched down beside Ted's body and muttered something quietly to herself as she carefully touched the blood that was oozing out from under the temporary robe bandage. "This isn't possible..." She mumbled, before looking up towards the young man who was still blushing furiously. "Adam, go and tell your father that we need his help."

The boy nodded. "Yes Ma." And ran up the wooden stairs in the hall without so much as a question.

"Forgive me for asking," said Bill, "but does your whole family work in this hospital?"

The woman blinked. "This isn't a hospital."

Paul looked at Emma in confusion. Emma just shrugged and mouthed: "Sorry."

"What i-is it then?" Charlotte asked with a sniff.

The woman smiled reassuringly. "We're a family of traditional healers. We only serve a select few people."

The group looked at each other nervously, prompting the woman to continue. "Do not worry, your friend is an exception. The sooner my fears are proved wrong the sooner I will be at peace." She curtsied. "My name is Varla, and you will hopefully have nothing to worry about."

Paul stepped forward. "What do you mean by fears?"

Just then, the boy returned downstairs, his face slightly less red than before. "Father says to bring the patient up."

Emma glanced at Paul with concern, before turning to the old woman. "Excuse me, Varla was it? This is all going a bit fast, and I think we'd rather have our friend seen by someone in an actual hospital."

A frown flashed across Varla's face briefly, but it was soon extinguished. "But does your hospital have experience in spiritual healing?" She asked cunningly.

Charlotte gasped loudly. "How did you-"

"I'll tell you everything later. Right now, we need to save your friend." She stumbled towards the stairs and gestured upwards. "Follow me and bring him up. You're lucky my husband has first-hand experience in this."

The group looked at each other, not sure what to do, but ultimately decided to follow Varla with caution.

"Oh, Adam?" She called down to the young man. "Go and have your pills, I might be busy all evening."

A muffled sarcastic "Yes, mother." was heard from beneath them.

Varla smiled apologetically. "Please forgive Adam, I'd like to think his behaviour is from his real parents. For some reason he wants to be involved with modern medicine." She said the words with a hint of disgust. "Still, the boy tries his best."

The group all tuned the old lady out as they collectively (finally) carried Ted behind her.

"He has a good heart. I meant that in a metaphorical sense, his heart is actually quite unhealthy. He has very low blood sugar, you know. And-" she stopped suddenly and pushed a large wooden door open- "we're here."


	33. Varla and Adam... and Chad

The wooden door creaked open to reveal a dark room dimly illuminated by torches on the walls. Paul could just about make out the many scrolls and legends that were hung up, as well as the patterned rug and bed at the end of the room. Sitting cross-legged on said bed was a older-looking man.

"Darling, they have brought up the poor man." Varla said, strutting into the room casually. The others followed with more hesitation.

The man opened his eyes, and Paul immediately tensed.

His eyes were a dull purple, scarily similar to one of the many shades of Ayorka's eyes. Paul forced the connection out of his mind. Ayorka caused this mess, this man would hopefully get them out of it. There was no link between the two.

The man gave a wrinkled yet reassuring smile. He beckoned to the group towards him. "Let me see."

His voice was surprisingly smooth and calm despite the fact that there was a stranger bleeding out on his floor.

Paul carried Ted towards the man, and laid him gently on the bed as he instructed.

Then he stepped back to where the others were. Charlotte was crying on Bill's shoulder while Alice and Emma looked on in worry. Paul quietly slipped his hand into Emma's, who gripped it tightly.

"We've tried everything to stop it bleeding." Said Emma, breaking the uncomfortable silence as Varla's husband inspected the wound.

"When did it happen?" He asked.

"Uh, a few days ago now. I think. It's all a bit-"

"Shhh!" The man silenced. "I don't want to know more than I have to, in case my diagnosis contradicts yours."

Emma felt angry to be hushed in such a way, but kept her mouth shut. She didn't want to get on the wrong side of the weird family any more than she had already.

Suddenly, the man stood up from the bed, sucked in a breath and held his head in his arms. Varla gasped. "It's not, is it?" She asked anxiously. "It can't be."

The man didn't move. The group looked on in confusion.

"Please," Varla continued, "tell me it's not... it's not _him_."

Finally, the man looked up at his wife, with hot tears in his old purple eyes. "It has to be. There's no other explanation." He replied solemnly.

"Has to be what?" Emma asked nervously. "What are you talking about?"

"Uh, Emma..." Paul said, pulling his hand away from hers and using it to point at one of the many scrolls displayed around the room. Emma squinted her eyes to see them better, and let out a loud gasp in shock.

Plastered around the room were numerous variations of the Legend of Ayorka.

Varla ran up to embrace her troubled husband in a hug. "It's alright, dear." She soothed in his ear. "Chad, are you listening to me? You did your best. It's not your fault."

"W-Wait, you know Ayorka?" Asked Charlotte timidly.

The man, Chad, carefully pushed his wife away from him and faced Charlotte. "Yes. I do." He answered, before letting out a long sigh. "I'm guessing that's where you all came from."

"How did you know?" Inquired Paul.

Chad's eyes flickered over to his wife, who nodded. "Very few people are allowed off that mountain alive and sane." She said, telling the story for her husband. "Chad is one of them. He is one of six survivors, but I suppose that you can all be added to the list."

"I tried to save him." Chad whimpered quietly. "I tried-"

"That's enough, dear." Varla stated. "Help this young man first, we can talk about it later."

"So, can you help him?" Asked Emma, gesturing to Ted.

"Y-Yes." Answered Chad, wiping his eyes. "Yes I can. He used his blood, didn't he? Of course he did, all he wants is company and a human specimen. This is looks like one of his robes... well done for using it. You might have saved your friend's life." He paused for breath. "I'll need a few days, but I can definitely help him. You're all welcome to stay here and recover until then, I understand you must have had a very traumatic experience."

Paul nodded graciously. "Thank you, Sir, that's very kind."

Varla smiled in relief that her husband hadn't completely broken down. "You can all head downstairs, Adam will show you where you can stay. I'll follow you in a moment."

The group all trooped downstairs, feeling more relaxed now that they knew Ted was safe and that no-one had died...

...yet.

However, Alice lingered for a few moments in order to speak with the old woman alone.

"Varla, how does your husband know so much about Ayorka?"

Varla's smile faded. "He doesn't like to talk about it, and it's not my story to tell. All I can say is that it means a lot to him so maybe he'll tell you yourself." She whispered back.  
She then ushered Alice downstairs, and slowly closed the door behind her. It didn't take long for the muffled sobs to start coming through.


	34. Deborah

The two days they spent in the healers' household felt like an eternity. They took turns to go and explore the city, but they all found themselves coming back no longer than fifteen minutes later, sick with worry.

Chad had locked himself in his room with Ted, and neither of them had come out since they had arrived. Varla assured them that the only reason for this was because it was a "complicated experimental process" that needed commitment and patience. Not everyone in their party matched those two attributes.

But, after two very stressful days, Chad finally emerged from his room and stood at the top of the stairs, fatigue evident on his face.

"He's awake."

The group (plus Adam who was on babysitting duty for them) rushed upstairs to see if the news was true. Charlotte was the first to barge into Chad's room and kneel beside the large bed where Ted lay all bandaged up with his eyes open and a frown on his face.

"Char..?"

Charlotte smiled, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks. "Th-That's right Ted, you fell asleep again."

"Oh." Ted replied groggily. "Who with?"

Paul groaned loudly, the memories of his former housemate all flooding back to him.

"Oh hey Paul." Greeted Ted, turning his head to get a better view of the others.

"Hi." Paul answered awkwardly.

"How are you feeling?" Asked Bill, stepping forwards with concern.

Ted sighed. "Better than ever, I feel like a new man." He then squinted his eyes at Bill. "Have you put on weight?"

Alice gasped in horror. "Well, you try getting access to food after being fed practically nothing for a few months!" She cried. "Then see if you dare to say that again!"

"Alice..." Bill crooned, gesturing towards Ted. "It's alright. He's been through a lot."

Alice scowled. "But so did y-"

"Shhh." Bill hushed. "Listen to me, Alice."

Alice bit her lip but obeyed.

Emma couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. Neither Bill nor Ted knew how Alice had bloodbent a few days ago, and how she hadn't been the same since. She decided that it was a family matter and she would wait until someone else brought it up. Poor Paul's experience hadn't looked pleasant. She shuffled closer to the bed. "Hey." She said to the injured man.

"Hi Emma. Come to kick me again?"

Emma froze. "...you remember that?"

"Yeah. It's all good though," Ted grinned, "I'll get you back someday."

"Gee, thanks(!)" Emma groaned sarcastically.

Charlotte slowly rose back onto her feet and turned to the remainder of the group. "Could Ted and I have a moment alone?" She asked.

"O-Of course!" Paul agreed, secretly glad to be escaping the strange tension in the room.

"Follow me." Instructed Adam, who had been leaning on the back wall, watching in silence. He beckoned the others and led them out of the room and back down the steps.  
They had learned quite a lot about Adam through Varla. For one thing he wasn't as old as he looked, being only a teenager. He wasn't Varla's biological son either, his tall frame and scruffy dark locks not matching Varla or Chad at all. He looked vaguely familiar to Paul, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

They trooped down the steps in single file in order to reach the living/waiting room, but at the bottom of the steps Adam stopped in his tracks, almost causing Paul to fall right on top of him.

There, standing in the middle of the hall, was a young woman. Her brown, curly hair was tied back underneath a green bandanna, and her blue eyes were locked onto Adam who began to shake.

"Hey, Adam." She said coolly.

"Go away." Adam stated, his voice cracking.

"All I said was hello." She responded with mock offence. She began to walk towards them. "Who're these people?" She asked.

Starting with Paul, the girl's eyes examined each person that was stood on the stairs. Her gaze seemed to linger on one person though, and Paul turned his head in curiosity to see who had caught her attention. It was Alice.

Adam spread his arms out defensively to prevent the woman from coming any closer. "It doesn't matter, we're busy." He said nervously. Whoever this girl was, she had Adam terrified.

"Easy there, twinkletoes. Where's your mom?"

Adam gulped. "She's not home."

The girl smiled eerily. "And your dad?"

"With a patient." Adam replied. He subtly elbowed Paul behind him. "Go get him." He whispered.

Paul nodded and ushered everyone back up the steps and down the corridor, where Chad stood outside his the door to his room.

"Back already?" He laughed.

Paul pointed at the floor frantically. "There's this girl downstairs and I think she's threatening Adam!"

Chad's face darkened. "Stay here." He commanded, before storming towards the steps. Both Emma and Alice moved to follow.

"He said to stay here!" Bill reminded.

Emma shook her head. "I wanna know what's going on!" She said, before running off.

Alice lingered for a moment, then replied "Me too" and joined Emma.

Paul and Bill were left to stare at each other for a few moments, before they heard a thunderous roar from beneath them.

_"GET AWAY FROM MY SON, DEBORAH!"_

Paul couldn't hold in his curiosity any longer. He sprinted away despite Bill's protests. Once he reached the bottom of the steps, he was greeted by a strange scene.

Chad was embracing his Adam who was crying into his shoulder. Emma and Alice stood to the side in shock.

"What happened?" Paul asked Emma.

Emma blinked. "I'm not sure." She gradually walked towards the flight of stairs once more. "But I'm going to find out. Come on, Alice."

Alice didn't hear.

"Alice?" Paul prompted.

"Oh, yes, sorry." Alice apologised, tearing her eyes away from the door and hurriedly following Emma and Paul.

Once they'd arrived back to where Bill was waiting, Paul rubbed his eyes."There's something going on in this house, and we need to find out what." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Otherwise it'll be Ayorka all over again."


	35. "Together"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rewind!

Charlotte let out a breath that she had been holding once the group had finally left the room. Satisfied, that they were alone, she sat on the large bed next to the man that she cared for more than she felt like she should.

"Ted, we need to talk." She began.

Ted frowned in irritation. "Do we have to do this now? I just woke up and I feel so _good-"_

"That's why I wanna do this now. Y-You see I've been waiting to do this but you w-were dying and I felt like that would be a bad time..."

"You got that right." Ted grumbled, scratching his bandage from which a herbal scent was being emitted. Charlotte felt a sudden urge to press her nose against it whilst holding Ted close... but she fought it. This was exactly what they needed to discuss.

"After what happened, I realised something." She continued, before pausing and looking at Ted nervously. "I know you're going to make a fuss about it, but I just have to tell you before this goes too far."

Ted visibly deflated and began to plead. "Look, I know I wasn't very useful when I passed out- Hell, I'm useless the rest of the time too. I know you've made your mind but I promise that I-"

"I love you, Ted."

Ted froze and immediately sat up. "What?!"

Charlotte clasped her hands around his. "Seeing you unconscious made me realise just how much you mean to me. And it's more than I thought. I know you did it just to keep me away from Sam, but I've fallen for you, Ted." She paused, trying to decipher Ted's face. It was blank with shock. "I know it's crazy, a-and I know it's wrong and that you don't do love... but there's something about you that just wasn't there with Sam. Surely you can understand. Can you, Ted?"

Ted blinked.

He then pulled his covers to one side and stated with a crack in his voice: "Get in the bed."

Charlotte laughed with joy, glad that Ted didn't turn her away. Although he hadn't accepted her either, she found his reaction promising. It was a start.

She was about to lie down next to the man, but was interrupted by a shout coming from downstairs.

_"GET AWAY FROM MY SON, DEBORAH!"_

"What was that?" Asked Ted.

Charlotte sat up. "I-I don't know!" She replied.

Ted pressed his head back onto one of the many pillows. "I'm tired."

"Of course you are." Charlotte said sympathetically. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

She stood up reluctantly. "I'll see if everything's alright, you get some rest. I owe that healer everything, and I'm sure he'll carry on taking great care of you, right until you're back to normal."

She turned back, only to notice that Ted was already fast asleep. She smiled and slowly walked away, but not before gently pressing her lips against the back of his grubby hand.

Quietly closing the door behind her, she exited the room, allowing her (potential?) lover to sleep in peace.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!


End file.
